On Tour

Sturgill Simpson Says He's Tested Positive for COVID-19

says he’s tested positive for . In a lengthy Instagram post, the Sound and Fury artist writes that he received the diagnosis on Friday, after nearly a month of not exhibiting symptoms.

That wasn’t the case in early March, however. Three days after playing Charleston, South Carolina, on his A Good Look’n Tour with Tyler Childers, Simpson was in a Nashville emergency room with chest pains, a fever, and what he says were “pre-stroke blood pressure levels.” He posted a photo of himself on a hospital bed wearing a mask over his nose and mouth.

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Ok since they are in short supply these days here are some facts… We were on tour in Western Europe for two weeks late Jan /early Feb..then up and down the southeast/eastern US playing arena shows mid Feb to early March. We played Charleston, SC on March 10 and they pulled the plug on our tour March 12 and I returned home. This photo was taken at 9am on March 13th when my wife took me to our local hospital ER due to chest pains, fever, and pre-stroke blood pressure levels. I spent an hour listening to a (highly condescending) Doctor refuse to test me because I “did not fit testing criteria” and tell me why it was impossible that I had contracted the virus due to its extreme rarity and that it was not in western Europe yet during that same period (which we now know is incorrect) even though I was told by two nurses that I was the first person their hospital had walk in requesting to be tested. Almost one month later on April 6th my wife and I were both tested after finally finding a free drive-thru testing facility outside a National Guard depot. Yesterday on Friday April 10th, after almost one month without any symptoms, I received a call from the Nashville CDC stating that my test resulted in a positive detection for Covid-19. My wife (who has been by my side since Europe) tested negative. I should also add that the CDC nurse I spoke to yesterday told me that it reacts differently in a case by case basis and the White House briefings and the information they are providing is basically pure speculation causing fear and that the only thing anybody knows is that we don’t really know much yet. All I know is I first felt symptoms a month ago yet Im still positive and contagious and now on quarantine in the dojo until April 19th and really wishing Id taken my wife’s advice and put a bathroom in the floor plans..live and learn. But hey, at least our Government appointed task force headed by a man who does not believe in science is against mass testing and we now have a second task force in the works to “open America back up for business”! Dick Daddy out.

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Simpson expressed his dismay at being unable to be tested for COVID-19 and returned home. On April 6th, he and his wife went to a drive-thru testing facility in Alabama and received their results four days later. His wife tested negative.

The Kentucky native, who says he’s contagious and now in quarantine, criticized President Trump and the U.S. government’s response to the ongoing crisis.  “At least our Government appointed task force headed by a man who does not believe in science is against mass testing and we now have a second task force in the works to ‘open America back up for business’!”

Last week, Simpson mourned the loss of his friend John Prine, who died Tuesday from complications related to COVID-19. “There is so much I never said only because I didn’t want to bother you with it. After all you never asked to be ‘John Prine.’ There is so much I’ll never get to say now,” he wrote. “You reminded me so much of my Grandfather it hurt sometimes. I never told you that.” Simpson’s tour with Childers is tentatively scheduled to resume April 20th in Omaha, Nebraska.