Canada’s Drag Race judge Brooke Lynn Hytes says she has caught COVID-19.
In an Instagram post on Tuesday, the Toronto drag queen wrote that she got tested after finding out she had been in contact with a few people in Toronto early last week who had tested positive.
“Well kids, mom got the COVID,” she wrote. “I am all tucked away in my quarantine and I’m doing just fine. Symptoms are very mild and for that I am grateful.”
Unfortunately, that means Hytes will not be on hosting duties when the cross-country Canada’s Drag Race Live At The Drive-In tour stops in Toronto for three dates at CityView Drive-In this weekend.
“But the good news is I have been given the clear to be out of quarantine in time for the Ottawa shows next week. Health permitting of course,” she added. “Please be careful out there. I followed the rules and it still got me.”
Hytes appeared on season 11 of RuPaul’s Drag Race and was one of three judges on the Canadian version of the reality competition, which finished airing earlier this month.
She was in the midst of hosting drive-in tour featuring Canada’s Drag Race cast members when she announced the diagnosis. The tour stops in Montreal this week before coming to Toronto for three nights on October 2-4.
Last weekend, popular Toronto drag bar Crews & Tangos said a drag performer and a customer tested positive for the virus. The bar temporarily closed to undergo cleaning.
Read Brooke Lynn Hytes’s full statement below.