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Lena Dunham has finally opened up about her own experience with Coronavirus, which she said she contracted in March earlier this year.
The Girls star took to Instagram to share her own experience with COVID-19, to try and reiterate that the virus needs to be taken seriously.
Despite initially being reluctant to post about her own experience with the virus, she said that she hopes that her post will put an end to many people’s “carelessness”, and hopes it will encourage as many people as possible to wear masks and practice social distancing, among other safety measures.
“I’ve been reluctant to share this, having written and rewritten it anxiously. I don’t want to unnecessarily add my voice to a noisy landscape on such a challenging topic, as an unfathomable number of people have lost their lives to COVID-19 – a phrase we didn’t even know in January” she began.
“But seeing the carelessness with which so many in the United States are treating social distancing, people jogging without masks and parties on Instagram, I feel compelled to be honest about the impact this illness has had on me, in the hopes that personal stories allow us to see the humanity in what can feel like abstract situations.
“The fact is, the Coronavirus kills people. We know that. But it will also alter the bodies and lived experiences of so many who are infected, in ways that could never be predicted.”
In her lengthy Instagram post, the 34-year-old Girls creator told fans that at first, she couldn’t differentiate her Coronavirus symptoms from the chronic pain she usually suffers with. (She has previously admitted that she suffers from Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and endometriosis.)
Until that is, it got to a very severe level, and she had lost her sense of taste and smell, in addition to rashes, problems breathing, trouble sleeping, and many other symptoms…
“I couldn’t sleep but I couldn’t wake up. I lost my sense of taste and smell,” she continued.
“A hacking cough, like a metronome keeping time. Inability to breathe after simple tasks like getting a glass of water. Random red rashes. A pounding headache right between my eyes.
“Even as a chronically ill person, I had never felt this way. To be clear, I did not have these particular issues before I got sick with this virus … the serious long-term health consequences of a COVID-19 infection are something doctors are learning more about every hour.
“It felt like I was a complex machine that had been unplugged and then had my wires rerouted into the wrong inputs. This went on for 21 days… that blended together like a rave gone wrong.”
She ended her post by pleading with people to take the virus seriously, in a bid to protect as many people as possible…
“This is the biggest deal in our country, and in the world right now,” she added.
“When you take the appropriate measures to protect yourself and your neighbors, you save them a world of pain. You save them a journey that nobody deserves to take, with a million outcomes we don’t yet understand, and a million people with varying resources and varying levels of support who are not ready for this tidal wave to take them.”
According to CNN, over 4.5 million people in the United States have been infected with the virus; and over 153,000 people have died due to complications from COVID-19.
We’re glad to hear that Lena Dunham is feeling better! We hope that her story will encourage as many people as possible to do what they can to stay safe during this uncertain time.