Political commentator and ruling Jubilee Party operative Pauline Njoroge has announced that she tested positive for Covid-19.

Pauline made the announcement through her social media pages, saying she started coughing on Monday, March 1. 

“On Monday (1st March) afternoon, I started coughing and could feel my chest tightening. I mentioned to a friend that I needed to get my inhaler from the car. But the feeling didn’t last long so I continued with the assignment we were undertaking,” she stated in her post.  

She said the persistent cough and tightening of the chest roused her curiosity. 

“After work I passed by somewhere to attend to a personal errand. The cough and the chest tightness returned. This time round, I sent someone to the car to get me the inhaler. I took some puffs and proceeded with my errands. By that evening I was feeling so drained and I even wrote a post on FB, ‘Feeling drained’,” she went on. 

Things would only go south henceforth.

“On Tuesday I woke up feeling so weak. I told Esther Juma and Nduta Kangethe about it and they reminded me to eat and take water since I am always struggling with food and water. But my appetite was so low and my body felt like it had been hit by a truck. 

“I was now coughing heavily and dealing with a very nasty headache. I had no energy and just wanted to stay in bed. By the end of that day, my entire body was aching.... joints, back, eyes, head, skin... everything!”

Pauline says she continued losing her strength with every passing second and started feeling dizzy too. Nothing helped.

“I could barely sleep that night because of pain and heat. On Wednesday I woke up before the alarm went off. I was quite weak and the dizziness was intense. I could barely stand for a moment without feeling like I was going to faint the next minute. I went to the hospital where they did a blood test and later gave me the normal stuff for flu.”

She felt drained and could not execute her day’s tasks, she narrated on her post. 

“The pain reduced but the body remained weak. On Friday, I really struggled with the International Women’s Day shoot (the video I shared earlier today). By the time I was done with a few minutes of recording, I was so drained and I went back to bed.”

She was forced to seek medical attention and at the hospital is where she got the news.

“I started to get worried on Saturday afternoon and decided to go back back to hospital. They put me on drip as I was quite pale and they also did a Covid-19 test. I got my results this morning and it is positive.”

Pauline Njoroge took the opportunity to warn Kenyans to continue taking Coronavirus mitigation measures seriously amid warnings the virus could be in its third and more lethal phase in the country amid new strains being reported.

“On my previous post where I have said the third wave is back, I have seen some say this is a lie while others have claimed I am just advertising the vaccine. Well, I am speaking from experience.

“This virus is nasty and when you get it, it leaves you with no doubt. Unfortunately you never know how your body will react to it, until you get it.”

She added, “For sure, there is no way of protecting oneself 100% but lately we have been quite relaxed and keeping social distance has become a thing of the past. But friends, let us try our best to protect ourselves and our loved ones. And if you experience some symptoms, isolate yourself so that you do not infect those close to you, until you confirm that you are not infected.”

She noted that hospitals in the country were filling to capacity but expressed hope that the rollout of the first phase of the Covid-19 vaccine would improve things in the country soon.