In a somewhat cruel twist of fate, nice guy and Hollywood Everyman Tom Hanks (along with wife Rita Wilson) was among the first bold name to be diagnosed with the novel coronavirus while the couple were in Australia. Hanks was there for work, filming a biopic about Elvis Presley with Aussie director Baz Luhrman (the man behind music-heavy flicks like
Moulin Rouge and
The Great Gatsby). News that he had contracted the virus was made public just last weekend."Hello, folks,” Hanks wrote on his
Twitter account, “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. 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!"[video_embed id='1923205']RELATED: Idris Elba announces he has COVID-19[/video_embed]From the sounds of it, the actor and Wilson were suffering from one of the milder cases of COVID-19, rather than experiencing the acute respiratory distress that many other patients have been subjected to. The fact that Hanks has already been discharged and is talking about it on Twitter backs this up.But that didn’t stop President Donald Trump from nearly tweeting out a premature RIP for Hanks. Australian newspaper
The Courier Mail claims that Trump had to have his Twitter privileges momentarily put on hold after he came close to announcing the actor’s death on social media. It took an intervention from US embassy staff and health officials Down Under to put a stop to the misinformation and presidential misunderstanding.Immediately ahead of news about Hanks contracting the disease, the Australian government had decided to impose strict border control regulations to limit the spread of COVID-19 within its borders. Hanks and Wilson are among the more than 600 cases that the country is currently dealing with.Just after Hanks’ tweet went out to his followers, the New York Times podcast
The Daily released a recording of an interview and profile by writer Taffy Brodesser-Akner. It’s a joyful and uplifting thing to listen to in these anxious times. Check it out
here.[video_embed id='1924204']BEFORE YOU GO: Prime Minister Trudeau confirms U.S.-Canada border is closed[/video_embed]
