Tom Hanks Breaks The Silence On His Experience With Coronavirus

Married acting couple Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson were diagnosed with the COVID-19 coronavirus back in early March, marking one of the first high-profile cases of the virus to be publicly announced.

The couple, both 63, recovered relatively quickly while being quarantined in an Australian hospital for three days before returning home to the United States soon after. Wilson recently revealed a bit of information about how the two might’ve contracted the virus during its early days and discussed the severity of her symptoms, but Hanks has been relatively quiet about the details of his experience since returning to the United States.

This week, however, he finally opened up about his personal battle with the sickness and how he coped during his time in quarantine. In an interview with The National Defense Radio Show, he made it very clear that the virus had quite a different effect on his wife than it did on him. His symptoms were considerably less severe, though he insists that didn’t stop them from being exhausting to experience.

About the differences, he explained:

Rita went through a tougher time than I did. She had a much higher fever. She had lost her sense of taste and sense of smell. I had some bad body aches and was very fatigued, and that’s how the COVID-19 went through us.

Tom Hanks went to mention that he made multiple attempts to stretch and stay active during his 3-day stint in quarantine, but that he was usually wiped out before he was able to finish his exercises, proving that milder symptoms of the virus can still be truly devastating to the body. And speaking about his quarantine in particular, the actor explained the following:

It was relatively early in Australia’s response to the coronavirus, and they wanted us to not give it to anyone else. That’s why we were in lockdown.

COVID-19 has now infected 2.3 million people worldwide and has amassed a death toll of nearly 160,000. The United States – currently the epicenter of the pandemic – has 740,000 known cases and 38,000 deaths alone. While health officials had hoped that the peak of the virus was near, some are now saying it may unfortunately be weeks or months before things begin to level out.