Singer Pink says she had COVID-19, gives $1M to relief funds

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LOS ANGELES — The singer Pink had tested positive for COVID-19, she said Friday, also announcing that she is donating $500,000 each to two emergency funds.

In a pair of tweets, she said she and her three-year-old son were displaying symptoms two weeks ago, and she tested positive after accessing tests through a primary care physician. Her family had already been sheltering at home and continued to do so, she said. They were tested again “just a few days ago,” and were negative.

The Grammy Award-winning artist behind eight studio albums and hits like “Get the Party Started,” “What About Us,” “Raise Your Glass” and “Just Give Me a Reason” called for for free and widespread testing.

“It is an absolute travesty and failure of our government to not make testing more widely accessible,” she wrote. “This illness is serious and real. People need to know that the illness affects the young and old, healthy and unhealthy, rich and poor, and we must make testing free and more widely accessible to protect our children, our families, our friends and our communities.”

She announced she’s donating $1 million across two coronavirus-related relief funds, with $500,000 each going to the Temple University Hospital Fund in Philadelphia and the COVID-19 response fund run by the Mayor’s Fund for Los Angeles.

The Temple University donation honours the singer born Alecia Moore’s mother, Judy Moore, who worked at the hospital’s cardiomyopathy and heart transplant centre for nearly two decades, she said.

She called health care workers “heroes” and ended her post with an appeal to the public.

“These next two weeks are crucial: please stay home,” she wrote. “Please. Stay. Home.”