Kylie Jenner warned her substantial social media following “millennials are not immune” to the coronavirus in a fresh call to self-isolate.
The cosmetics entrepreneur, who has 166 million followers on Instagram, has been posting regular updates throughout her nine days in quarantine, urging fans to stay indoors.
Amid concerns younger Americans were ignoring the magnitude of the crisis gripping the country, the US surgeon general appealed for the 22-year-old to continue leveraging her audience to spread methods of combating the Covid-19 outbreak.
Jenner responded by emphasising the danger of the virus.
“The coronavirus is a real thing,” she said in a video shared on her Instagram Story.
“I listened to the surgeon general this morning and even though I’ve already been doing my daily reminders, he definitely encouraged me to come on here and talk to you guys so you can see me and hear me.”
Jenner pleaded for her followers to stay indoors, saying, “practice social distancing, self quarantine.”
She said many people with coronavirus do not show symptoms and warned of the danger of young people infecting old people.
“If you live with your parents, you don’t want to go home and get your parents sick. You might have it and not even know and be infecting other people,” Jenner said.
“It’s serious, and the only way that we’re going to slow this down is if we do this because there is not a cure right now.
“Nobody is immune to this. Millennials are not immune to this. New evidence actually shows that a large percentage in the hospital right now are young adults.”
Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams on millennials and the coronavirus: “We need to get our social media influencers out there and helping folks understand that look this is serious.” https://t.co/M1e2wFmU6F pic.twitter.com/FNjZB12mKK
— Good Morning America (@GMA) March 19, 2020
Jenner is one of the most followed people on the planet and usually uses her immense influence to promote her cosmetics brand, which according to Forbes magazine made her one of the world’s youngest billionaires.
Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic she has issued repeated pleas for people to stay indoors to prevent the virus spreading.
She is not the only celebrity isolating. Katy Perry, who is expecting her first child with British actor Orlando Bloom, shared a picture from home and said she has lost track of the days.
It’s okay to cry. pic.twitter.com/JTuBCFc4SA
— Josh Gad (@joshgad) March 19, 2020
Frozen star Josh Gad tweeted a video of himself crying, telling fans it is OK to show emotions during the pandemic.
“We’re gonna get through it,” he said. “And it’s hard and I’m emotional because I hate seeing our kids deprived of their normal lifestyles and not being able to understand why all of this is happening so quickly, but I’m also emotional because of all the incredible things that so many of you out there are doing on a daily basis.”
British singer Sam Smith shared a series of emotional pictures and wrote: “Stages of a quarantine meltdown.”
However, not all celebrity attempts to lift the collective mood have been well-received.
Israeli actress Gal Gadot shared a star-studded cover of John Lennon’s Imagine but has since been widely mocked, with critics saying the video was “peak cringe content”.