Days of our Lives' Camila Banus (Gabi Hernandez) took to Instagram to reveal that she has tested positive for COVID-19. The actress revealed the news via a 14-minute video in which she uses a filter that gives her diamond tears as she details her symptoms and other information about her diagnosis.
As fans know, Banus was recently visiting family in Florida, where she got engaged to her longtime beau, Marlon Aquino, just before Christmas.
"I wanted to hop on here and let you guys know that I was traveling, as you guys know, in Florida, got engaged, which is super amazing, and was heading back on the 25th and was not feeling right, so I went and got myself a COVID test yesterday and your girl tested positive," she shares. "So, I tested positive for COVID-19. Bananas. So, that's why the tears, the diamond tears, right now."
Fortunately, Banus says that her symptoms have been incredibly mild, and her fiancé -- who is quarantining with her but hasn't received a test -- isn't showing any symptoms at all.
"I'm a strong girl, so I'm keeping up with my vitamins," she reports. "I don't really have any bad symptoms or anything like that. I have really mild, mild symptoms -- as you can hear, my voice is a little bit gone, and I had some congestion yesterday in my nose... [and] I can't taste or smell anything. I mean, I'm talking nothing."
Banus goes on to share that she is following CDC guidelines and will quarantine for ten days, after which she will check in with her health care provider and do another test to see if she can be cleared to return to society and to work. So, in answer to the question of when she'll be returning to her role as Gabi, she says, "Well, it's definitely going to be more than ten days!"
As Soap Central previously reported, DAYS has experienced a number of COVID-related incidents during the coronavirus pandemic. Though the NBC soap opera was able to avoid shutdown delays and bring fans brand-new episodes all year long due to its advanced production schedule, it did briefly lose longtime cast member Melissa Reeves, who chose not to return to her role as Jennifer Horton during the pandemic. DAYS called soap vet Cady McClain (ex-Dixie Cooney, All My Children; ex-Rosanna Cabot, As the World Turns; ex-Kelly Andrews, The Young and the Restless) to take Reeves's place for the time being.
Meanwhile, DAYS had to amend its production schedule in mid-October when one of the show's crew members tested positive for COVID-19. As a result, the NBC soap was forced to halt production while the DAYS' Burbank studio underwent a deep cleaning and contact tracing was completed. Thankfully, the production pause did not cause a delay to network airdates, and viewers didn't experience an interruption of material on-screen.
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