Brian May says he ‘perhaps made the wrong decision’ to attend gathering where he thinks he caught Covid-19
‘It seemed like a safe situation,’ Queen guitarist said
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Brian May has said he “made the wrong decision” to attend a mask-free social a gathering where he may have caught Covid-19.
The Queen guitarist has tested positive for the virus, sharing the results of his lateral flow test on Instagram.
He said he is feeling “truly horrible” and that it’s like “the worst flu you can imagine” before revealing how he believes he caught it.
May told his Instagram followers that he attended a friend’s birthday meal with his wife, former EastEnders star Anita Dobson, with a small group of friends, thinking they were “in a safe bubble”.
“It’s kind of ironic for me,” he said, explaining that the couple have been “incredibly careful” over “the past 20 months”.
He continued: ‘Then last Saturday [11 December]. we decided we would go to a birthday lunch and we thought, well this is the last social function we would go to – not that we go to many anyway, we’ll chance it, everybody’s going to be triple-jabbed, everybody’s going to be with one of these things [lateral flow test] which says you’ll be negative on the morning.”
May said “it seemed to be set up very safely, but of course you kind of know you’re taking a risk and so we all went to the party”.
After quoting Professor Chris Whitty’s advice from earlier this week, in which he instructed the country to “decide what your priorities are” due to rising Covid rates, May said: “We did and, in retrospect, perhaps we made the wrong decision.”
“It seemed like a safe situation,” he said, adding: “You have your negative tests, so what could possibly go wrong?
Enjoy unlimited access to 100 million ad-free songs and podcasts with Amazon Music
Sign up now for a 4 month free trial (3 months for non-Prime members)
Enjoy unlimited access to 100 million ad-free songs and podcasts with Amazon Music
Sign up now for a 4 month free trial (3 months for non-Prime members)
“The new variant seems to be so incredibly transmissible that I’m not even sure that would have been safe – this thing is spreading at such an alarming rate.”
He added: “You really do NOT want it messing up YOUR Christmas.”
May said that eight people at the party tested positive and that his lateral flow test took three days to show the positive result.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments