Tom Hanks & Rita Wilson Give Reassuring Coronavirus Update

Tom Hanks opened up about his coronavirus diagnosis and symptoms in a message Sunday night. He and wife Rita Wilson have been improving after two weeks of battling coronavirus symptoms, which include fever, cough and shortness of breath.

The duo was hospitalized for several days in Australia before they were released. They announced they were positive for COVID-19 on March 11. They were two of the first major celebrities to reveal they had been infected with the virus.

As of Monday morning, there were more than 341,000 total confirmed novel coronavirus cases globally and more than 14,700 deaths. In the U.S., there are more than 34,000 COVID-19 cases and have been over 400 deaths.

Hanks and Wilson have continued to keep their fans informed about their progress. “Hey, folks. Two weeks after our first symptoms and we feel better,” Hanks, 63, tweeted Sunday night. “Sheltering in place works like this: You don’t give it to anyone – You don’t get it from anyone. Common sense, no?”

“Going to take a while, but if we take care of each other, help where we can, and give up some comforts… this, too, shall pass,” he continued. “We can figure this out.”

Hanks and Wilson had been in Australia for pre-production work on a film about legendary singer Elvis Presley. Hanks was slated to portray Presley’s manager, Colonel Tom Parker. The production, which was supposed to be directed by Baz Luhrmann, has been postponed.

Wilson Has Also Kept Fans Updated

Wilson has also been keeping her fans updated. On Sunday, she showed how she was keeping busy during quarantine with a video she captioned as, “Quarantine Stir Crazy.” The Instagram clip showed her reading the sci-fi novel “Ender’s Game” and then transition into rapping Naughty by Nature’s 1992 hit “Hip Hop Hooray.”

When confirming his diagnosis, Hanks shared a picture of a trash bin with a rubber glove. “Hello, folks. 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.”

“Well, now. What to do next?” Hanks continued. “The Medical Officials have protocols that must be followed. We Hanks’ will be tested, observed, and isolated for as long as public health and safety requires. Not much more to it than a one-day-at-a-time approach, no? We’ll keep the world posted and updated. Take care of yourselves!”

Idris Elba Was Inspired by Tom Hanks

Actor Idris Elba, who also tested positive for the virus, praised Wilson and Hanks for speaking out so early. It helped him announced his own diagnosis. “

“Tom being in a – I suppose – a high-risk category, while being on set on a film, came out immediately, which was the right thing to do, 100 percent,” Elba told Oprah Winfrey, according to USA Today. “Film sets are incubators, essentially … I think Tom definitely did the right thing … I spoke to my wife about it and said, ‘I really think I should say something’ and she said, ‘Yeah, let’s do it.’”

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