Jeff Lewis contracted a ‘really bad’ case of COVID-19 after throwing a ‘superspreader’ Christmas party where a third of guests later tested positive.
The party, which was held at the Los Angeles home of Real Housewives Of Miami vet Lea Black on December 21, saw guests such as Jeff’s co-host Megan Weaver, assistant Shane Douglas, on-off boyfriend Scott Anderson, actress Monika Casey, and Shahs of Sunset star Mercedeh Javid Feight all testing positive after the bash.
On his SirisuXM show Jeff Lewis Live!, the Bravo star, 51, recounted the chain of events leading up to his positive test result and how his fever spiked to 104 degrees before he sought monoclonal antibody therapy.
‘I don’t regret it’: Jeff Lewis contracted a ‘really bad’ case of COVID-19 after throwing a ‘superspreader’ Christmas party where a third of guests later tested positive
‘Thursday is when everyone started testing positive,’ Jeff said. ‘A third of us got it. And we also have people with symptoms who haven’t been tested yet.’
Despite the sheer number of people testing positive, Jeff has no regrets throwing the party.
‘I don’t regret [it], by the way,’ Jeff said. ‘That was an epic party. It was so worth almost dying for!’
Jeff also shot back at people who were calling him ‘reckless’ for throwing the party in the first place, insisting he took precautions to ensure the safety of his guests.
‘We had a nurse there testing all of us’: Jeff also shot back at people who were calling him ‘reckless’ for throwing the party in the first place, insisting he took precautions to ensure the safety of his guests; pictured January 2021
‘People are saying we’re reckless and stupid. No we’re not, f**kers,’ Jeff said. ‘We were all vaccinated and we had a nurse there testing all of us before we even went in the door… I thought we were being responsible.’
But even with a medical professional screening the vaccinated guests, Jeff still tested positive.
Jeff said he started to feel unwell several days after the party while attending a Christmas Eve dinner with his family. He tested negative prior to arriving to the dinner but left early once his symptoms started to kick in.
Bravo stars: Lewis launched to stardom on the Bravo series Flipping out
‘Christmas Eve, I tested negative, so I went to my family’s Christmas Eve dinner,’ he said. ‘I did wear a mask and I stayed distanced… Then I started feeling sick at dinner. I went home early.’
Things got bad the next day when Jeff’s temperature spiked to 104 degrees.
‘By the next day I was in pretty bad shape,’ the Bravo star continued. ‘My fever went up to 103.8. I was able to get it down to 102 then it soared to 104.5, which is insane. Scottie took a bowl of ice water and was putting cloths on my body to try to bring the temperature down.
‘There was no sweat whatsoever, I was just radiating heat. I was a little delirious and I told him, “I think you’re going to wake up tomorrow and I’m going to be dead.”‘
Co-host Megan was not spared from experiencing some painful symptoms: ‘I was in a ball, shaking, chills, body aches, the whole thing,’ she recalled.
‘I don’t want her to get sick’: Jeff is still isolating himself away from his daughter Monroe, four, who is currently with her father Gage Edward amid his recovery
Jeff credited monoclonal antibody treatment for helping to turn his symptoms around.
‘MJ found a doctor… he saved our lives. He brought monoclonal antibody therapy,’ he said. ‘I thought he was a miracle worker. He said this is saved for the most extreme cases, like you have to be hospitalized, but I frankly didn’t want to be hospitalized — I wanted to get it before then. So I decided to go ahead and do it, before I was hospitalized.’
Within 12 hours, Jeff said he started to feel improvement.
‘I would say I felt better within 12 hours,’ Jeff said. ‘I still have the diarrhea, and I still have the cough and I still have the chills but at least I don’t have the fever anymore.’
Jeff is still isolating himself away from his daughter Monroe, four, who is currently with her father Gage Edward amid his recovery.
‘I don’t want her to get sick and I also don’t want to take care of her because I don’t have any nannies,’ he said, as several of his housecleaners and nannies had also tested positive.
‘I’m down to two and if anything happens to those two, I’m not going to be able to feed myself I don’t know who is going to be able to take care of me!’
Jeff shot to stardom with his own Bravo series Flipping Out, which aired from 2007 to 2018.
In September, he announced plans to add another child to his family after finding a new surrogate.
The way they were: Lewis pictured with his ex Gage Edward in 2018
