Gloria Estefan defeated coronavirus

December 3, 2020

Gloria Estefan revealed last Wednesday that she spent much of the month of November isolated after testing positive for COVID-19.

The 63-year-old singer said she was fortunate and only had "a little cough" and dehydration, after losing her sense of taste and smell. Since then, she said she has tested negative twice.

In a video posted on her Instagram account, the Cuban-American star said she became infected despite strictly following public health protocols and speculates that she may have been exposed by a fan who wasn't wearing a mask one night when she went out to dinner with three family members. The admirer touched her shoulder and got quite close to speak to her, Estefan said.

"I was very lucky, but I just wanted to share with you that I was in quarantine, and one day I went out and I came across a person who wasn't using a mask. I even held my breath while they were talking to me, but something must have happened there," she said.

Estefan recounted that she found out she was infected after losing her sense of taste in early November, and then spent two weeks in total isolation on the second floor of her house. She credited her vitamin consumption — and possibly a low viral load from whoever infected her — for her ability to avoid a worse impact from the disease.

"Fear was my biggest problem," Estefan said. "We have to grab the fear and shake it off and just do what we can to keep our immune system as healthy as possible."

The Grammy Award-winning artist is also an entrepreneur with multiple businesses in south Florida, which has been heavily impacted by the pandemic. Along with her husband, music producer Emilio Estefan, she owns Cuban cuisine restaurants, a hotel in Miami Beach, and a stake in the Miami Dolphins.

"I know we're going through a very big surge in Miami. Things are difficult right now here," she said in her video. "Please wear all your masks, try to keep six feet apart and protect yourselves."