WASHINGTON — Musician Ted Nugent tested positive for COVID-19 months after he claimed the virus was "not a real pandemic."
In a Facebook live announcement on Monday, Nugent said he had "flu symptoms for the past 10 days," adding that they were so bad he felt like he was "dying."
He said his symptoms included a "stuffed up head, body aches." The 72-year-old singer, songwriter even claimed he could "barely crawl out of bed."
For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms like fever, chills, fatigue, shortness of breath, sore throat or more. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illnesses and symptoms.
Nugent admitted in his live stream that "everybody" told him he shouldn't break the news that he tested positive for the virus, but he did anyway. Despite the positive test, Nugent said he would not be getting a vaccine because "nobody knows what's in it."
Throughout his Facebook live, he used profanity and racist language to describe COVID-19.
Half of all adults in the U.S. have received at least one COVID-19 shot, the government announced on Sunday, marking another milestone in the nation’s largest-ever vaccination campaign but leaving more work to do to convince skeptical Americans, like Nugent, to roll up their sleeves.
Almost 130 million people 18 or older have received at least one dose of a vaccine, or 50.4% of the total adult population, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. Almost 84 million adults, or about 32.5% of the population, have been fully vaccinated.
Authorities stressed they have found no sign of clot problems with the most widely used COVID-19 vaccines in the U.S. — from Moderna and Pfizer. The Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine was paused last week over blood clot concerns, but Dr. Anthony Fauci believes the pause will be lifted sometime this week.
The United States has nearly 32 million confirmed cases of COVID-19, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
As of Tuesday, the U.S. had more than 567,000 deaths from the virus. Worldwide, there are more than 142 million confirmed cases with more than 3 million deaths.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.