‘Summer House’: Luke Gulbranson Discusses His Experience With COVID, ‘I Was Scared for Me’ (Exclusive)

Summer House fans who followed Luke Gulbranson‘s Instagram stories in March may have noticed that he seemed worried and frazzled, concerned he had contracted COVID-19 (coronavirus).

Gulbranson said he felt sick but tests were not accessible at the time. He ended up driving home to Minnesota from New York City, which was a hot spot at the time. Thankfully, he recovered and spent the rest of the spring at his quaint cabin in the woods. But he recently shared his experience, saying that he was as worried as he appeared on Instagram.

Luke Gulbranson left New York City when he started feeling sick

“I wasn’t feeling super good in New York, it was weird,” Gulbranson recounted to Showbiz Cheat Sheet. Adding, “I remember calling my mom and saying, ‘Hey, I feel like I’m getting the flu.’ Like I don’t know … it was so weird. But, I didn’t have a fever, I just didn’t feel good.”

Gulbranson described some of the same experiences COVID patients have reported. “It was off and on,” he recalled. “I’d feel good and then I’d feel bad. And then I’d feel good and then bad again. So I went home and I was like, ‘I’m getting out of here as soon as people start fighting over toilet paper.'”

New York City was locked down and one of the hardest hit by COVID in the country at the time. “And I was like, yeah, no way man, get me out of here,” he continued. “So I went home back to the lake because I knew I’d be safe. When I got there, I got more sick, but nothing too crazy. I lost my taste and smell and that was like before taste and smell was a part of COVID. And as far as getting a test, like they were hardly giving tests in New York, let alone in northern Minnesota.”

Luke Gulbranson never got confirmation if he had the virus

“I was never able to get a test, but I was sick for like three weeks,” Gulbranson said. “At the end of the day, I’m almost certain I had it just with the symptoms.”

“I had the telltale signs of what COVID is,” he said. “And I was around people that had it. Some of my castmates had it. And I know Andy [Cohen], he had it. At the end of the day, I’m almost certain I had it. And I’m just very lucky to have been able to come out of it okay because it’s such a terrible disease. And I feel horrible for all the people that are losing loved ones because of it.” Carl Radke shared he too had COVID but didn’t realize it. Instead, he thought he was hungover.

“I’m a big advocate for wearing a mask,” he added. Gulbranson said his Instagram stories truly reflected his range of emotion during the time he was sick. “Yeah, I was scared for me,” he said.

Summer House is on Thursday at 9/8c on Bravo.