The Music Industry’s First Coronavirus Survivor Describes the Sucky Ordeal

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Andrew Watt in 2018 (photo: ASAAL7 CC SA 4.0)

Nobody said coronavirus was a walk in the park. Though it looks like Grammy-winning music producer Andrew Watt is the music industry’s first bonafide survivor.

Universal Music Group CEO Lucian Grainge was the first music industry figure to be diagnosed with COVID-19 — at least publicly. But while Grainge is currently receiving treatment UCLA Medical Center, someone else has already made it through the coronavirus hell-hole intact.

That would be Andrew Watt, a seasoned guitarist and Grammy-winning music producer. Watt, who has produced songs for Cardi B, Post Malone, Ozzy Osbourne, and other high-wattage names, posted the sucky details of surviving coronavirus in an Instagram post this morning. “Yesterday I was given the results that I am positive for COVID-19,” Watt stated. “I wanted to tell you all about my journey getting here in an effort to bring awareness to the severity of what’s happening in the world.”

So what’s it like to have the superflu from hell?  According to Watt, “the chills, sweats, and fevers did not stop. I started to become delusional and then began the dry cough.”

“Twelve days ago, on the early morning of March 6th, I started feeling like I was hit by a bus,” Watt recounted. “I couldn’t move out of my bed for days and started to run a fever. I was seen by a doctor at my house who told me I am positive for the regular flu and there’s no way I could have COVID-19 as I haven’t left the country and all I do is go to the studio and go straight home. I told all my friends I had been working with and anyone close to me that I’m laid out with the flu and quarantined myself… none of them even had a sniffle.”

As if that didn’t suck enough, Watt was unclear over whether had actually contracted COVID-19 — and was being told he hadn’t.

In an episode that speaks volumes on the dysfunctions of the health care ‘system’ in the United States, Watt said he couldn’t obtain a proper test — or get reliable results.  “I immediately rushed to the emergency room and begged to be tested for COVID-19 as this ‘flu’ was not subsiding,” Watt continued. “I was turned down for the test because of federal regulations. I begged and pleaded to be evaluated and finally was given a chest x-ray… the results of which were viral pneumonia… but still… No test.

It looks like the pneumonia + COVID punch forced Watt to take on a breathing apparatus, though the producer reported that he’s now rapidly recovering.  “I am laid out in bed chugging Gatorade and using an oxygen machine to give my lungs as much relief as possible,” Watt stated.

That’s good news for ol’ Grainge, who undoubtedly has access to top-tier treatment and care.  Watt is 29, which certainly helps, while Grainge just celebrated his 60th birthday on February 29th (somehow our invitation to the shindig got lost in the mail — blame coronavirus).

Elsewhere, celebrity couple Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson are also members of the COVID survivor’s club.

But the couple, which certainly has a few years on Watt, seemed to have a less-treacherous ordeal. “We felt a bit tired, like we had colds, and some body aches,” Hanks stated, while noting that both are recovered and quarantined.

“We Hanks will be tested, observed and isolated for as long as public health and safety requires.”