The COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic has turned out to be an oppressively long-lasting event that has resulted in 15.5 million cases and a global death toll of 632,000. Of course, the outbreak hasn’t discriminated between the common population and celebrities, and one of the world’s most famous actors, Mel Gibson, apparently came down with the virus earlier this year, though he kept it quiet and didn’t make it public, which is why we’re only finding out about it now.
One of Gibson’s representatives spoke to The Daily Telegraph recently and told them that the Academy Award winner was infected with COVID-19 way back in April. According to them, he was in bad enough shape to spend a week in a hospital in Los Angeles receiving treatment. He’s since fully recovered, however, but he’s yet to make his own public statement regarding the matter.
The representative stated:
He tested positive in April and spent a week in the hospital. He was treated with the drug Remdesivir, while in the hospital, and has tested negative numerous times since then as well as positive for the antibodies.
Mel Gibson is far from the first high-profile person to be infected with the virus, of course. One of the first celebrities to publicly announce their positive test was Tom Hanks after he and his wife Rita Wilson became ill while he was shooting a film in Australia. More recently, True Blood‘s Anna Camp announced that she not only caught the virus but continues to suffer from persistent and debilitating symptoms, even though she ‘s since tested negative.
This isn’t anything new, either, as doctors and health officials are now discovering that the virus is leaving many “recovered” patients with lingering effects such as neurological symptoms, cardiac issues, and onerous breathing problems. There’s still so much to learn about this novel coronavirus, and it could be years before the world fully understands the total damage it’ll have caused to our global population. So for now, just wear a mask and social distance, and know that we’ll beat this thing eventually.