(L-R) Rita Wilson and Tom Hanks attend the 77th Annual Golden Globe Awards at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 05, 2020 in Beverly Hills, California.
Steve Granitz | WireImage | Getty Images
Academy Award-winning actor Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson have tested positive for the coronavirus, Hanks revealed Wednesday.
Hanks and Wilson are in Australia for the pre-production of Baz Luhrmann’s currently untitled Elvis Presley film from Warner Bros. Hanks is set to play Presley’s longtime manager Colonel Tom Parker.
Hanks announced the couple’s diagnosis on social media accounts, including Instagram and Twitter.
“Hello, folks. Rita and I are down here in Australia,” he wrote. “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? 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! Hanx!”
Both Hanks and Wilson are 63.
Warner Bros. said that it was made aware that a company member on the Elvis film had tested positive for COVID-19.
While the untitled Elvis film isn’t due into theaters until October 2021, Hanks has three movies slated for release in 2020. “Greyhound,” a World War II film that will be distributed by Sony, “BIOS,” a post-apocalyptic film from Steven Spielberg’s Amblin, and “News of the World,” a western from Universal. All three films are currently in post-production.
Wilson has also wrapped filming on her 2020 project. “Love is Love is Love,” an American Zoetrope film is currently listed as complete.
Earlier Wednesday, the World Health Organization declared a pandemic. As of this posting, there have been at least 118,381 global cases of coronavirus, according to WHO. Within the U.S., at least 1,279 cases have been confirmed, according to data compiled from Johns Hopkins University.
Coronaviruses are part of a large family of viruses that can cause illness in humans and animals. Symptoms of the COVID-19 include fever, cough, shortness of breath and difficulty breathing.
The coronavirus spreads in a similar fashion to the flu. If a person with the virus coughs, sneezes or exhales, they release droplets of infected fluid that can land on nearby surfaces and can infect another person who comes into contact with those surfaces.
In severe cases, an infection from coronavirus can lead to pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure and death.
Most people who become ill won’t develop serious symptoms, but 15% to 20% of the people who are exposed to the virus get severely sick. The odds of developing COVID-19 increase with age, starting at age 60. It’s especially lethal for people over 80.
Around the same time that Hanks and Wilson disclosed their diagnosis, the National Basketball Association suspended its season indefinitely after learning that a Utah Jazz player tested positive for coronavirus. The NBA canceled Wednesday night’s game between the Jazz and Oklahoma City Thunder.