UPDATE (3/24/20, 2:20 A.M. ET): Colton Underwood, 28, woke up “seeing light at the end of the tunnel” while battling COVID-19. The Bachelor revealed this as he shared the good news of his improved condition in a new Instagram post, shared on March 24! “I had my best sleep in more than a week and feel closer to my normal self. I still have a mild cough but the aches and pains are gone,” Colton wrote in the caption. “I’m just feeling grateful right now that I still have a life. I realize that my case was not as severe as others and I am lucky we managed it at home.” The ABC star also happily announced that he lost “a lot of the symptoms [he] used to have” in the post’s accompanying video, which you can watch below.
ORIGINAL: Colton Underwood, 28, has been having a “challenging” time while battling the coronavirus in the past week, but with the medications and the care of doctors, he’s finally seeing improvement. The Bachelor star, who tested positive for COVID-19 last week, gave his fans a “health update” with an Instagram pic and caption on Mar. 23 and it gave a lot of insight into how the virus is affecting him and the steps he’s taking to work toward a full recovery.
“Hi, just wanted to give you a health update. The last few days were rougher than I expected,” Colton’s caption for his photo, which showed him sitting up in bed and eating from a bowl, read. “The most prominent symptoms are my cough, night sweats and shortness of breathe [sic]. Breathing is challenging, the best way to describe it is feeling like I only have access to 20% of my lungs. I can only imagine how people with pre-existing health conditions feel with this. I’ve been journaling throughout this and I’ll share some of those soon.”
Colton went on to reveal the type of medication he’s been taking and how his family and friends, including girlfriend Cassie Randolph, is dealing with him being in isolation. “I’m currently on hydroxychloroquine, Z-Pak and last night the doctor prescribed an inhaler, also,” his caption continued. “I’m hopeful that they are starting to work! This morning was the first time that I’ve felt any real type of improvement since the beginning of this. Im [sic] hopeful that I’ve turned the corner and will be back to 100% soon. We are very lucky that all of this was manageable at home after getting the proper medicine. I’m on the third story of the Randolph’s home, isolated from the rest of the family (The Health Department called and spoke to both Cassie’s mom and me to make sure we understood timing and what to do). When they make food they make an extra plate and drop it off and have been checking on me regularly to make sure I am comfortable and breathing! They have been amazing and have been taking great care of me. Stay positive people…We got this!”
Colton’s update was met with numerous encouraging words from his followers, including positive words like “you’ve got this” and many red heart emojis.
The athlete’s new post comes three days after he took to Instagram to announce he had coronavirus. “I tested positive and I have been following all of the social distancing rules since last week,” his post read. “My symptoms started a few days ago, I was tested and just received my results today. For anyone out there that is hesitant to self quarantine… please do yourself and your loved ones a favor and stay home. We will all beat this and come out stronger on the other side. I’ll keep you posted, Love y’all.”
The highly contagious coronavirus has infected 375,100 people worldwide so far, including 42,434 Americans, with 573 cases resulting in death. In addition to Colton, many other celebrities have announced that they have the virus, including Watch What Happens Live host Andy Cohen, actor Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson, and actor Idris Elba.