EXODUS/SLAYER Guitarist GARY HOLT Officially Tests Positive For COVID-19

EXODUS and SLAYER guitarist Gary Holt has tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus.

Holt said he received his results today (Tuesday, March 31),11 days after he was tested.

The San Francisco Bay Area-based axeman, whose wife was also tested, took to his Instagram earlier today to write: "So I finally received my test results back and positive it was. Lisa's came back negative, and it's been long enough since my symptoms that I am officially in the clear to do the only things I'm allowed, like buy my own groceries! I feel great, made it through the tougher moments, and my health feels 100 percent normal. Thanks to everyone who had wished us well. Now it's time to start working on some new EXODUS riffs while I'm still basically stuck in my house!"

Holt, who spent most of the past nine years touring with SLAYER, broke the news of his condition on March 18, saying that he had been feeling "mildly sick" since returning from "The Bay Strikes Back 2020" tour earlier in the month. Joining EXODUS on the trek were TESTAMENT and DEATH ANGEL.

On March 22, TESTAMENT singer Chuck Billy revealed that he has also tested positive for COVID-19. Also believed to have been infected is DEATH ANGEL drummer Will Carroll, who has been in an intensive care unit at a Northern California hospital since March 18.

On March 16, San Francisco Bay Area officials unveiled aggressive and restrictive measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus. The "shelter in place" order asks nearly seven million residents of six counties in the Bay Area to remain home as much as possible. It will last until May 1.

Early symptoms of COVID-19 include fever and dry cough. Some people also experience fatigue, headaches and, less frequently, diarrhea. Shortness of breath can develop within about five days.

Every third patient in China — one of the countries with the most confirmed cases worldwide — experienced sputum production, which is thick mucus coughed up from the lungs, according to WHO (World Health Organization).

Officials have made it clear that the elderly — especially those with heart, lung and immunological conditions — are particularly vulnerable to the coronavirus.

According to the Centers For Disease Control And Protection (CDC),coronavirus is thought to spread mainly from person to person — between people who are in close contact with one another (within about six feet),and through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes. These droplets can land in the mouths or noses of people who are nearby or possibly be inhaled into the lungs.