Kathy Griffin is recovering at home after being admitted to a COVID-19 hospital isolation ward, having experienced “unbearably painful” coronavirus symptoms. While the comedian did not ultimately undergo a test for the virus, she opened up to the Los Angeles Times about her experience and criticized President Donald Trump for not making testing more broadly available.
Griffin revealed she ultimately was recommended to go to the hospital after telling her doctor she had what felt like a stomach virus, including symptoms of intense pain, vomiting and diarrhea for almost a week after returning from Mexico. “We’d been hearing about a 14-day incubation period [for the coronavirus],” Griffin told the Times. “So for me to get what felt like food poisoning after six days, I thought, ‘OK, is this a coincidence or what?’”
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Being admitted to the coronavirus ward, Griffin praised the health care workers who attended to her in was a less-than-ideal circumstances.
“Frankly, when they said the corona ward, I thought I would be walking into the white suits with blue-taped ceilings, everything,” she said. “I kind of expected them to put me in a shower room and all that — but as recently as [Tuesday], there’s no cavalry that’s coming in handing out millions of [test] swabs.”
Griffin ultimately did not qualify for a coronavirus test as per the Centers for Disease Control and Protection, but said her doctor thought she should have taken on.
“The doctor was going through the boxes and going through the boxes [on a form] and she kept saying, like, ‘Ugh, because of the lungs, the fever and the kind of cough … you don’t meet the CDC requirements,’” Griffin explained, adding that given the opportunity to be admitted to the hospital or self-isolate at home, she decided to return home.
Griffin then criticized Trump and the lack of resources and tests in the U.S. as the pandemic spreads.
“I just think it’s so obvious that those tests have to be accessible to everybody,” Griffin said. “A lot of people, when they hear the president saying everyone who needs a test should get one, then shouldn’t have to then go to a hospital where, frankly, they may be exposing themselves or exposing others.”
Griffin first revealed she had been hospitalized Thursday on Instagram, writing, “He’s lying,” alongside a photo of her lying in a hospital bed alongside a screenshot of Trump’s tweet regarding the coronavirus testing efforts going well. “I was sent to the #COVID19 isolation ward room in a major hospital ER from a separate urgent care facility after showing UNBEARABLY PAINFUL symptoms,” she continued. “The hospital couldn’t test me for #coronavirus because of CDC (Pence task force) restrictions. #TESTTESTTEST.”
Photo credit: Getty / Ethan Miller
