Sarah Palin Has ‘Bizarre’ Symptoms After Testing Positive For Covid-19, Urges Mask Wearing

Sarah Palin has revealed she’s tested positive for Covid-19.

In a statement to PEOPLE on Wednesday, the former Alaska governor opened up about her experience with the virus — including her “bizarre” symptoms — and stressed the importance of wearing masks amid the ongoing pandemic.

Palin, who revealed that she, along with other members of her family, contracted Covid-19, said her diagnosis means that “anyone can catch” the virus.

“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,” explained Palin, 57.

The 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee said it started when “one of my daughters awoke to having lost her sense of taste and smell [and] immediately had a positive COVID test, then was quarantined in isolation.”

Palin shares five children with ex-husband Todd Palin, including son Trig, who was born with Down syndrome.

Following her daughter’s positive diagnosis, Palin said she then “observed symptoms” in Trig, whom she called “the most enthusiastic mask-wearer.” However, Palin added that “after our numerous negative tests over the year, he tested positive.”

She continued, “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.”

Although the reality TV personality and her son “buckled down in isolated quarantine” and she was testing negative, she then started experiencing symptoms overnight and had a “slight fever and sore muscles.”

However, Palin said she knew Covid-19 had “caught” her after she began suffering from the virus’ “bizarre” symptoms, such as loss of taste and smell.

“That day I finally tested positive — like millions of other Americans,” she said, adding that Covid-19 can “really knock you down.”

Palin went on to call on Americans to take safety precautions, including wearing masks, to protect themselves against the virus.

“I strongly encourage everyone to use common sense to avoid spreading this and every other virus out there,” she told People. “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.”

Encouraging mask-wearing in particular, Palin jokingly brought up her appearance on “The Masked Singer” last year.

“Through it all, I view wearing that cumbersome mask indoors in a crowd as not only allowing the newfound luxury of being incognito, but trust it’s better than doing nothing to slow the spread,” Palin said. “And history will show we ‘Masked Singer’ visitors were masked before being masked was cool.”