Heidi Klum has come up with an excuse for her absence from the “America’s Got Talent” panel, saying she was unwell and happened to be unable to take a test that would determine if it was the novel Chinese-originated virus she had come down with or an ordinary cold or flu.
“I just wanted you to know why I have not been sitting in my ‘America’s Got Talent’ seat and just gone to work", the model and TV personality started off her explanation, further moving on to the symptoms she had. Klum specifies it all started with “like a chill, feeling feverish, cough, and runny nose".
“I hope it’s just a cold", she continued, with paparazzi capturing her walking out in Los Angeles in an eye-catching airbrushed trench on 10 March.
“I would love to do the corona test, but there just isn’t one here. I tried with two different doctors, and I just can’t get one", she lamented, wishing her fans all the best:
“Stay safe, everyone. Stay home if you don’t feel good".
On Friday, the FDA speeded up authorisation for an automated coronavirus test which is supposed to screen for the infection ten times more quickly than is happening now. The whole process has at times been impeded by faulty testing kits that have provided inaccurate data.
That same day Donald Trump declared a national emergency, with the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) instructing citizens on how to best protect themselves from the highly-contagious virus – using sanitizers, avoiding bodily contact, and staying away from public places, etc.
Trump meanwhile said that neither he nor any of his staff have taken a coronavirus test, despite their recent proximity to Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro's staff, one member of which has tested positive for the virus. "I don't have any of the symptoms", he told reporters.
As of Friday afternoon, the US had surpassed 2,000 confirmed or presumptive coronavirus cases, with the death toll across the nation climbing to 49.