Reba McEntire Says She Did Not Contract COVID-19 After All

Reba McEntire has clarified that she did not in fact contract COVID-19 following her announcement of a breakthrough infection that occurred after receiving her vaccine.

The country music star recently revealed that she and her boyfriend Rex Linn had tested positive for the virus but said during an appearance on Monday's "Talk Shop Live" that she had been suffering from a common respiratory virus, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which shares similar symptoms to COVID-19, according to People. 

"I did say that I had COVID but when I got tested my antibodies — it came up that I had not had COVID," McEntire said. She explained that she seemingly had a false positive COVID test.

"I had my antibodies from my vaccine," McEntire continued. "So I had all the symptoms, so I was kinda probably — I did get tested, you know the test that I had and it said that I had it but then the nurse that came and tested me for my antibodies said that I probably had the RSV virus."

Earlier this month McEntire announced she and Linn had both tested positive for COVID in a TikTok live stream.

"I just want to say one thing: this has been a hard year and it's getting rougher again," she said. "You guys, please stay safe. Wear your mask. Do what you have to do. Stay home. It's not fun to get this. I did get it. Rex and I got it and it's not fun. You don't feel good. We were both vaccinated and we still got it, so stay safe, stay home, and be protected the best you can."

New data has shown that there is a rise in breakthrough infections among the fully vaccinated in the U.S. However, those who have been inoculated remain protected from more severe cases. 

The data was based on more than 43,000 reported infections among Los Angeles County residents aged 16 and older, according to Reuters. Of those, 10,895, or 25.3%, occurred in fully vaccinated persons, 1,431, or 3.3%, were in partially vaccinated persons, and 30,801, or 71.4%, were in unvaccinated individuals.

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