Believe it or not, it’s been nearly a full four months since this all began.
The COVID-19 coronavirus has been dominating the news cycle ever since its appearance in Wuhan, China back in January and has now infected nearly 2 million people worldwide and killed over 120,000. Most governments have placed strict bans on travel and socialization, with many countries going so far as to place full lockdowns on citizens.
The United States is now the epicenter of the pandemic with almost 600,000 cases and 24,000 deaths, including some high-profile fatalities such as beloved singer-songwriter John Pine, dialect coach and Star Wars actor Andrew Jack, and Fountains of Wayne singer Adam Schlesinger.
But in early March, well before the virus began tearing through the United States with such force, celebrity couple Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson were among the first to announce that they had tested positive for COVID-19 and were under quarantine. Oddly enough, they were in Australia when they contracted the virus, a country that has done an exceptional job at keeping their infection numbers lower than any other inhabited continent.
The couple has returned to the United States since then, and Wilson has now opened up to Good Morning America about the ordeal to shed some light on their experience with COVID-19 and how they may have become infected with the disease in such a low-risk area.
Wilson stated in the interview:
I felt extremely achy, uncomfortable… Didn’t want to be touched. And then the fever started – chills like I’ve never had before. Looking back, I also realize that I was losing my sense of taste and smell.
As far as how she and Hanks became infected, she said:
It was somebody, they said, that Tom and I were both exposed to at the same time. We don’t know when that could’ve been, or where. But all I can say is, all of our close contacts, family, on our work team, no one has tested positive.
Of course, the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic is far from over. As healthcare workers struggle to get the supplies needed to keep up with the ever-growing influx of patients, health officials warn that the peak may still be days or weeks away. It’s not going to be an easy year for people or the world economy, but we’ll all pull through this together.
Stay indoors, wash your hands, and keep it tuned here for more.