Sarah Palin, 57, has recently revealed her COVID-19 diagnosis, urging people to continue wearing masks and taking precautionary measures.
Palin, who served as the ninth governor of Alaska, confirmed in a statement to PEOPLE that she and her family members have tested positive for COVID, including her 12-year-old son Trig.
The 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee-turned-TV personality said, “As confident as I’d like to be about my own health, and despite my joking that I’m blessed to constantly breathe in the most sterile (frozen!) air, my case is perhaps one of those that proves anyone can catch this.”
Explaining how it all started, Palin said “one of my daughters awoke to having lost her sense of taste and smell [and] immediately had a positive COVID test, then was quarantined in isolation.”
“I then observed symptoms in my son Trig, who curiously is the most enthusiastic mask-wearer, and after our numerous negative tests over the year, he tested positive,” she continued. “Children with special needs are vulnerable to COVID ramifications [Trig who was born with Down syndrome], so with a high fever he was prescribed azithromycin, which really seemed to help, and I increased amounts of vitamins I put in his puréed food.”
Palin went on to say that she and Trig “buckled down in isolated quarantine” and she “still tested negative.” However, “symptoms started overnight with a slight fever and sore muscles,” adding that she had some of the “bizarre” symptoms characteristic of the virus, such as loss of taste and smell, leading her to assume it was “unmistakable COVID caught me.”
She said, “That day I finally tested positive — like millions of other Americans.”
Palin told PEOPLE that COVID can “really knock you down,” urging people to remain vigilant and take the ongoing pandemic seriously.
She said, “I strongly encourage everyone to use common sense to avoid spreading this and every other virus out there.”
“There are more viruses than there are stars in the sky, meaning we’ll never avoid every source of illness or danger,” Palin added. “But please be vigilant, don’t be frightened, and I advise reprioritizing some personal time and resources to ensure as healthy a lifestyle as you can create so when viruses do hit, you have at least some armor to fight it.”
Palin also urged everyone to continue wearing masks in public. The article was published Wednesday on PEOPLE.
