The Coronavirus infected its highest-profile victim to date this week, with Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson both testing positive for the virus while down in Australia, where the actor is working on a new Elvis Presley biopic directed by Baz Luhrmann.
Hanks himself announced the unfortunate news on Instagram, telling his fans the following:
“Rita and I are down here in Australia. We felt a bit tired, like we had colds, and some body aches. Rita had some chills that came and went. Slight fevers too. To play things right, as is needed in the world right now, we were tested for the Coronavirus, and were found to be positive.”
As one of the most beloved actors in Hollywood, the reaction to the news was just as you’d expect, with tons of people voicing their concern and worry. After all, though Coronavirus probably won’t kill you if you’re under 50, the risk of death starts to climb once you’re above that age and Hanks is now 63. So, there’s certainly some concern for his well-being.
But it seems the actor is doing just fine, with the Forrest Gump star hopping on Instagram earlier tonight to share another update, which you can see for yourself below:
Hello folks. @ritawilson and I want to thank everyone here Down Under who are taking such good care of us. We have Covid-19 and are in isolation so we do not spread it to anyone else. There are those for whom it could lead to a very serious illness. We are taking it one-day-at-a-time. There are things we can all do to get through this by following the advice of experts and taking care of ourselves and each other, no? Remember, despite all the current events, there is no crying in baseball. Hanx
So, as stated above, he sounds like he’s in good spirits and doing alright, and we’ve no doubt he’s receiving top notch medical care and attention. With any luck, he’ll be out of quarantine in no time and back to normal. But until then, we wish him and Rita a speedy recovery.
As for the Coronavirus itself, well, it unfortunately shows no signs of slowing down, with the World Health Organization officially declaring it a pandemic this week. With over 125,000 cases and nearly 5,000 deaths, things are definitely getting pretty bad, but hopefully now that so many major events, theme parks, festivals, and more have been cancelled or shut down, the spread of the virus will begin to slow down a bit.