COVID-19 celebrity patients zero
It was on the night of Wednesday, March 12, that COVID-19 got real for many Americans. And it had little to do with a presidential address from the Oval Office that, per The New York Times, contained “surprising —and significant — inaccuracies” about the burgeoning crisis.
Rather, the moment that hammered home the new coronavirus reality occurred when Tom Hanks, one of the country’s most beloved celebrities, tweeted that he and wife Rita Wilson had tested positive for COVID-19 while on location in Australia. “We felt a bit tired, like we had colds, and some body aches,” he wrote.
Fortunately, the couple recovered within a few weeks and returned to the U.S. It was Hanks’ plainspoken and good-humored acknowledgement of his and Wilson’s diagnosis that awakened many people to the dangers that lay ahead. Whether or not he intended it as such, his announcement proved a valuable public service.
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