COVID-19 diagnosis has singer rethinking
Latin pop singer Prince Royce says he got a wakeup call with a COVID-19 diagnosis and now he wants to try and wake others, too.
Royce revealed in an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday that he is recovering from the coronavirus.
Royce, 31, said he decided to speak up out of a growing frustration with seeing people going out and gathering without masks.
“At first, I was very scared, like ‘Nobody can find out, I shouldn’t tell anybody.’
“But I felt that I have a duty to tell my communities, you know. I live in Florida, I’m from New York, I have a place in California. And I’m seeing what’s happening across the country. I see what’s happening in the world,” Royce said via Zoom from his home in Miami.
Royce said he doesn’t know how he got the coronavirus, but he admits that, after spending three months in quarantine, the reopening of bars and restaurants gave him a false sense of security.
“I was home this whole time, and I went out to some restaurants because things opened, and
I thought, ‘Well, Florida hasn’t been so bad, and New York is the one with the problem.’ I fell for that, and I think many people can fall for that and will fall for that,” he said. “And that’s what made me think, I need to come out and tell my story. It’s so frustrating to me to see people at supermarkets without a mask. It’s so frustrating to me to see that people are being irresponsible and not protecting others.”
Royce has scored 18 number one radio hits, 22 Latin Billboard Awards and 13 Latin Grammy nominations. His latest album, “Alter Ego,” debuted at number one in February on Billboard’s Top Latin Albums chart. He has more than 12 million followers on Instagram and wants his fans to know that everyone is vulnerable.
“Just because you’re young doesn’t mean that you’re not gonna get it,” Royce said. “I’m hoping that my story can educate the youth, the people that are trying to go out this weekend because of the holiday, the people that are going out to bars because things are open.”
He said: “Don’t be selfish and make the same mistakes that I probably did.”