Celebrities who faced stigma after battling COVID-19

Piece by: Marion Kageni
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The year 2020 has been an unpredictable year. More so with COVID-19 on the rise. Here are celebrities who took the bold step of coming out to to talk about contracting the virus, inspire of the stigma surrounding the infectious virus.

Some of the known faces that have contracted the virus and shared with the public the news include:

⦁ Kush Tracey- First in the list is Switch TV host Kush Tracey who had tested positive for COVID19.

On her YouTube channel the musician explains that she was not suprised with the news as she had come in contact with camera personnel and two producers who had earlier tested positive for the virus.

The artist who had kept the news lowkey as she was on her leave at the time when she got called by the health department of the results later on changed her mind and decided to break the news to her fans on Instagram since she was bound to report back to work as her leave was over and fans wuld question her absense.

Kush Tracey however exressed her disappointment in Kenyans not taking the virus seriously and being ignorant as she was accused of sharing news of her health for clout.

Kush Tracey then took a second test and it came out postive. Some of the symptoms she had includedd migraine, diarroea, fever and tiredness.

She later on grew much stonger and prayed for her recovery and when she did her third test came out negative.

⦁ Jeff Koinange- TV veteran Jeff Koinange is one of the biggest names that came out to share news of contracting the virus and it blew up the internet. Jeff broke the news on 20th July on Twitter.

Jeff shared the news a day afteer missing the Sunday live shw in which he hosts alongside Citizen TV anchor Victoria Rubadiri.

The journalist has since been working from home as he abided by the rules of self isolation.

He was fortunately an asymptomatic patient and was able to go about his day today acivities normally sch as co-hoting shows at the comfort of his home.

He later on tested negative for the virus and returned back to work.

⦁ Margaret Wanjiru- Many questioned her recovery as it was too quick.

The Jesus is Alive Ministries founder was admitted in the Intensive Care Unit at the Aga Khan Hospital and later on dischragred.

Speaking to the media she confrmed that she had tested positive for the coronavirus but had recovered.

⦁ Robert Burale- Motivational speaker and pastor Robert Burale took to his instagram account to share a video of himself in the hospital citing breathing problems as one of the symptoms of the virus he had experienced.

He was later on trolled for pretending to be sick in order to get sympathy from people.

Kenyans doubted the pastor as they closely assembled little details they had picked from the video he had shared that ruled out the possibility of him being sick.

The trolling came from the dress code as he had put on jeans and had his glasses on while receiving treatment and Kenyans were skeptical.

The motovational speaker however warned Kenyans on joking about the virus.

He widely spoke about the stuggles he had gone through that almost killed him.

Burale in another video later on said he was recovering from home and had been in the ICU where he struggled wih diffculty in breathing.

⦁ Stephen Letoo- The news of the Citizen TV journalist contracing the virus caught him off guard.

Stephen Letoo who has been covering stories relating to COVID19 found hmself as a victim by testing positive for the virus, news he got from the Nairobi hospital where he had presented himself the testing.

For Letoo the news of him being positive for coronavirus was devastating, he however showed no symptoms and later on recovered and went about his busniess carying out stories.

⦁ Bonnie Musambi- Another case of a celebrity testing positive for the coronavirus was with renowned KBC TV host also a radio Host Bonnie Musambi.

The media personality had decided to keep the news about hs health a secret but later on shared the news of his recovery with fans in the month of July.

Bonnie Musambi just like Jeff and Letoo were asymptomatic and follwed the guidelines by self isolating at hs home.

⦁ Musa Otieno- Former Harambee stars captain has been open about his battle with the virus.

For him the journey has been rough, being a symptomatic patient and struggling with chest pains, fever, coughing and sore throats and being subject of stigmatization in his neighbourhood he is definetrly a warrior for defeating the virus.

Otieno stated that he had contracted the virus while distrbuting foodstuffs to the vulnerable and after feeling unwell, he went to Mbagthi for testing which came out positive.

He later on recovered from the virus after undergoing mandatory self-isolation but admitted that the biggest struggle for him was having to struggle to breathe.