Former "Bachelor" Colton Underwood announced he tested positive for the new coronavirus on Friday.
Speaking from girlfriend Cassie Randolph’s family’s house in Huntington Beach, he said the virus was really slowing him down.
“It’s been kicking my a--, just to put it very bluntly,” he said in a video on his Twitter and Instagram. “I can’t even walk up a flight of stairs without being out of breath and I have to sit down every time I go to the bathroom just because I’m exhausted.”
He added he was “doing OK” and in “good spirits.” He said he wasn’t trying to cause panic, but wanted to encourage people to stay home to slow the spread of the virus.
“The reason I’m sharing this is not to cause fear … but to hopefully encourage you guys to stay home, do your part, take care of yourselves, take care of one another,” he said. “This virus doesn’t care how old or healthy you are. Please take care of yourselves and your loved ones and stay home.”
That statement backed up by the first study of nearly 2,500 U.S. cases of COVID-19. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 20% of hospitalized patients were between 20 and 44 years old, though fatality rates were highest for people 85 and older.
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Underwood is one of several celebrities to announce they’ve tested positive for COVID-19, as the number of confirmed cases in the United States neared 18,000 as of Friday afternoon, according to NBC News reporting.
Andy Cohen, Idris Elba, Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s wife, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, have all tested positive.
