Madonna Says She's Tested Positive for Coronavirus Antibodies So Can Freely "Breathe in the COVID-19 Air"
But actual doctors might advise against it
Published May 01, 2020
While misinformation about COVID-19 is rampant these days, we're lucky to keep getting advice from the real health experts — celebrities. Among them is Madonna, who has informed us she has tested positive for the coronavirus antibodies. As such, she plans to take a long drive and "breathe in the COVID-19 air" — an activity that she implies is now totally safe for her to do.In Madonna's latest instalment of her "Quarantine Diary" Instagram series — where she previously called COVID-19 the "great equalizer — she let us know about her apparent diagnosis.
"Took a test the other day and I found out that I have the antibodies," she says, all the while typing on an old typewriter and playing some jazz record. "So tomorrow I'm just going to go for a long drive in the car, and I'm gonna roll down the window and I'm gonna breathe in the COVID-19 air. Yup. I hope the sun is shining."
Of course, if you've been paying any kind of attention, you'll know that testing positive for coronavirus antibodies doesn't mean you are magically immune to COVID-19. As multiple IRL health experts have pointed out, the presence of coronavirus antibodies may not mean that someone is protected from reinfection.
According to Maria van Kerkhove — who is an actual doctor and works for the World Health Organization — there is a huge lack of evidence around coronavirus immunity.
"Right now, we have no evidence that the use of a serological test can show that an individual has immunity or is protected from reinfection," she said last month.
"These antibody tests will be able to measure that level of seroprevalence — that level of antibodies but that does not mean that somebody with antibodies means that they are immune."
But ultimately the choice of who to believe is up to you — Madonna or someone actually trained in medicine.