Rachel Maddow reveals her partner of 21 years almost lost her life to COVID
Rachel Maddow. (Paul Marotta/Getty Images)
Rachel Maddow delivered a sobering and heartfelt plea to the American public Thursday (November 19) as she revealed that her partner of 21 years almost died of COVID-19.
As the coronavirus continues to rip through the US, throttling normality, the MSNBC newscaster revealed that Susan Mikula became so sickened by the pathogen that loved ones believed that she may not make it.
Returning to host the show from home following a brief hiatus, the 47-year-old said: “My relationship with Susan, at the end of the day, is the only thing that I would kill or die for without hesitation.
“And Susan has been sick with COVID these past couple of weeks.
“At one point, we really thought that there was a possibility that it might kill her, and that’s why I’ve been away.”
Maddow: Don't get this thing. Do whatever you can to keep from getting it.
Rachel Maddow reveals that her partner, Susan, tested positive for Covid-19 and is still recovering, and implores viewers to consider their loved ones when they calculate their own Covid-19 risk. pic.twitter.com/oUz2DBLG63
— Maddow Blog (@MaddowBlog) November 20, 2020
Describing artist and photographer Mikula as the “organising principle” of her life, Maddow sought to stress her sadness when the couple separated after she tested positive.
Maddow, who herself has tested negative, said: “She’s gotten sicker and sicker while I tried to care for her while still staying physically apart from her.
“She’s recovering. We’re not scared like we were.”
Rachel Maddox: ‘Whatever you’ve been willing to do to risk getting coronavirus, don’t do it.’
Addressing those that, in the face of rocketing rates of coronavirus, are responding with apathy, fatigue or even derision, she implored people to take the virus seriously.
“Whatever you have calculated into your life as acceptable risk, as inevitable risk, something that you’re willing to go through in terms of this virus because statistically, hey, probably it will be fine for you and your loved ones, I’m just here to tell you to recalibrate that,” she said.
“Frankly, the country needs you to recalibrate that, because, broadly speaking, there’s no room for you in the hospital anymore.
“We’ve got more people in the hospital right now than we’ve had since the beginning of this epidemic. It’s gone up 50 per cent in two weeks.
“So, for the sake of the country, you really can’t get sick and need to go to the hospital right now. The only way to ensure that is to ensure that you do not get infected.”
As the country’s top health agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, pleas that people do not travel to see loved ones for Thanksgiving, Maddox amplified its warnings.
“What you need is that whoever is the most important person in your life, whoever you most love and most care for and most cherish in the world, that’s the person who you may lose,” she said.
“Or who you may spend weeks, up all night, freaking out about, calling doctors all over the place over and over again all night long trying to figure out how to keep that person breathing and out of the hospital.
“I’m guessing that you might be willing to risk yourself, after all these months and all this time, it’s so frustrating. I would have done anything.
“I would have moved mountains for it to have been me who was sick these past couple of weeks instead of Susan. I still would give anything for that. This thing does not give you that choice.”
She added: “This thing is scary as hell. Whatever you’ve been willing to do to risk getting it, don’t do it”
