Sarah Palin has tested positive for COVID-19.
Sarah Palin
The former governor of Alaska - who was the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee - has confirmed that she has contracted coronavirus as well as other members of her family, including her 12-year-old son Trig who has Down syndrome.
Palin - who has four other adult children, son Track and daughters Bristol, Willow and Piper, with her with ex-husband Todd Palin - insists the fact that her child Trig caught the respiratory illness despite being the "most enthusiastic mask-wearer" proves that anyone can get it and she urged her fellow Americas to continue to be vigilant in the fight against COVID-19.
Speaking to PEOPLE in a statement, she 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.
"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 ... 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."
The 57-year-old TV personality - who competed on 'The Masked Singer' last year - was first aware that the family could have been exposed to COVID when one of her "daughters awoke to having lost her sense of taste and smell [and] immediately had a positive COVID test, then was quarantined in isolation" and she then noticed that Trig was displaying symptoms.
She added: "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.
"Children with special needs are vulnerable to COVID ramifications, 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 herself then started to experience "symptoms overnight with a slight fever and sore muscles" which then developed into some of the "bizarre" symptoms caused by the virus such as a loss of taste and smell, leading her to accept that it was "unmistakable COVID caught me" and she tested positive "like millions of other Americans".
Palin - whose mother Sally Heath died in January at the age of 80 - also revealed that her father Chuck Heath has had his second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, something she is very happy and relieved about.
Talking about her dad's inoculations, she said: "I'm more concerned about him and his peers, and this beautiful older generation's health and quality of life should be a national focus and priority."
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