Gospel singer BeBe Winans has revealed he contracted coronavirus and unknowingly gave it to his mother and brother.
Winans, 57, and his family are now recovering from COVID-19. He says he caught the virus while traveling from New York to Detroit to attend a friend’s funeral a month ago.
During a recent radio interview on SiriusXM’s The Joe Madison Show, he detailed what led to his diagnosis.
“When I got home, I just started coughing out of nowhere, and then the fatigue came on and the chills, and my appetite went away,” he said.
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The Grammy winner called his doctor and was advised to stay at home. “You can’t just go to the hospital, and if you’re not in need of a respirator, they won’t even take you,” Winans explained.
He said the virus hit his brother Marvin, 64, a lot harder. Marvin was hospitalized for about five days after suffering a seizure and coming down with pneumonia. However, their mother Delores, 83, was able to recover at home.
In a March 14 Instagram post, Winans said he was in the airport in New York and it was empty because people were afraid of getting the virus.
“People are being driven by fear and I’m sorry, fear don’t drive me,” he stated. “So, don’t fear, especially if you know who God is.”
BeBe now admits that he didn’t heed warnings early on to avoid contracting the virus.
“Sometimes for some reason, we as a people when we look in and we look at television and various things that’s going on around us, we somehow say, ‘that can’t happen to me,'” he said.
He added that he’s learned it’s important to take precautions and use common sense.
“I’m just concrete in the subject matter that God is greater than anything,” he said. “Yet, and still, it’s so important for us to use common sense.”
Winans said his battle with coronavirus has taught him a lesson of gratitude.
“I’ve learned to be more grateful for life itself,” he explained. “Forget about homes and automobiles and all these things. You can’t take none of that with you. That means nothing when your health is gone.”
