Paavo Siljamäki of Above & Beyond took to an Instagram livestream to reveal he has the symptoms and has been diagnosed with a mild to medium case of COVID-19. The artist explained that he believes he picked it up in India recently after getting a massage by a masseuse who was coughing. He reveals that shortly after that is when his symptoms began.
Siljamäki went on to explain how he has been feeling, which includes intense chest pain. The artist frequently practices meditation, which he has been trying to do paired with breathing exercises to relieve the pain. He has also suffered from a fever, as is typical with the Coronavirus. It is his 11th day with symptoms. The livestream ended on a positive note when he added that he is staying busy with Fortnite (his username is POS313) to pass the time. Fortunately, with the number of event cancellations that have occurred, the artist will have plenty of time to recover.
The public is encouraged to stay calm and continue to unify in efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19, which has been classified as a global pandemic by the World Health Organization. The virus—which originated in Wuhan, China—doesn’t pose a direct threat to the demographic generally attending events en masse, but can still be spread to more vulnerable parts of the population (the elderly and those that are immunocompromised); thus, it’s important to maintain measures for social distancing, and hygiene practices like washing hands and disinfecting surfaces. Many of these measures have since become mandatory in cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York, while the United States is officially under a state of National Emergency.
As of writing, global COVID-19 cases are at 492,950, with 22,165 deaths and 118,059 full recoveries—according to the World Health Organization. China, Taiwan, Singapore, and others have already been able to contain the outbreaks, for the most part, while Europe is the new epicenter of the outbreak. More tracking information can be found here.