DJ Jazzy Jeff talks to Will Smith about battle with suspected COVID-19, says he 'lost sense of smell and taste'
DJ Jazzy Jeff suspected that he caught coronavirus and spoke about the symptoms he experienced on Will Smith’s latest Snapchat show.
The show called ‘Will From Home’ is Smith’s latest online project, where is talking to friends and loved ones in quarantine and keeping the spirits up. Jeff, his longtime friend and music producer, joined the show on Wednesday, April 15, to talk about his suspected coronavirus experience.
The 55–year-old artist talked about falling sick and then having COVID-19 like symptoms. He was later diagnosed with pneumonia in both lungs.
In a detailed transcript of the chat, as reported by People, Jeff is quoted as saying, “I came home from my trip. I was like, ‘I feel like I’m coming down with something’ and got into bed, and I don’t remember the next 10 days. I had a temperature that reached 103. I had the chills. I lost sense of smell. I lost sense of taste.”
“They gave me a flu test. And when I went and got the chest X-ray, she came in and said, ‘You have pneumonia in both your lungs,’” he added.
Jeff also mentioned that he couldn’t get tested for COVID-19, despite showing symptoms like respiratory discomfort, fever, etc.
Reflecting on the severity of the current pandemic and its impact, Jazzy Jeff also commented, “Unfortunately, people think we’re at the end [of the pandemic], and I think we’re really at the beginning.”
He then added an image post on Instagram which said, “I’m bored as sh*t…. But I’m alive…”
Just before his chat with Smith, Jazzy Jeff also shared a post on his social media handle encouraging fans and followers to practice social distancing.
“Be grateful that you are here… Be grateful for what you have.. You have more than a lot of people!!! Now take yo ass in the house! #KeepYoAssInTheHouse”, his post read.
When he first fell sick a couple of weeks ago, Jazzy Jeff addressed some rumors and pacified his fans telling them not to worry and that his condition was not critical. He posted, “Don’t believe everything that you hear on the internet because a lot of it wasn’t true. Now I really was sick. I was sick though. I was real sick.”
“And I gotta send a huge shoutout to my family, especially my wife, for taking care of me when I was sick. But I’mma let you know I ain’t sick no more,” he included in his post.
Reacting to this, Will Smith told on the show how “scary” it was to hear about Jeff’s experience.
So far, the United States has reported 609,516 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 26,057 deaths, as per the John Hopkins tracker.