If anyone is getting frustrated with people refusing to social distance or wear a face-covering in public — particularly as new COVID-19 cases hit record numbers nationwide — Tom Hanks is on your side. To those people, he sent a message via a press conference to promote his new movie, “Greyhound,” which drops on Apple TV+ on July 10.
“There’s really only three things we can do in order to get to tomorrow: Wear a mask, social distance, wash our hands,” Hanks said at the event, according to People.
The actor has firsthand knowledge of the dangers of the disease, giving his stance some extra weight. On March 12, Hanks revealed on social media that he and his wife, Rita Wilson, had tested positive for COVID-19. He gave an update on their health during the press conference, saying, “We are fine.”
“We had about 10 days of very uncomfortable symptoms. Not life-threatening, we’re happy to say,” he revealed. “We were isolated in order to keep an eye on ourselves because if our temperatures had spiked, if our lungs had filled, if any number of things had gone wrong with this, we would have needed expert medical care. We didn’t. I guess we were model recoverers from COVID-19, but we were also isolated so that we would not give it to anybody else that we came in contact with, and since then have been doing the same isolating, social distancing that is being asked of the world.”
In addition to following safe practices and spreading awareness, Hanks has even donated plasma to aid the research of the disease. On April 29, he tweeted photos of the plasma he gave to scientists at UCLA and gave a shoutout to infectious disease epidemiologist Dr. Anne Rimoin.
Here’s last week's bag of plasma. Such a bag! After the paperwork, it’s as easy as taking a nap. Thanks @arimoin and UCLA. Hanx pic.twitter.com/15WblGiVwe
— Tom Hanks (@tomhanks) April 29, 2020
Hanks didn’t hold back in his criticism of those who aren’t taking the preventative measures recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to help reduce the spread of the coronavirus.
“Those things are so simple, so easy, if anybody cannot find it in themselves to practice those three very basic things — I just think shame on you,” Hanks said in the recent press conference. “It’s very basic. If you’re driving a car, you don’t go too fast, you use your turn signal and you avoid hitting pedestrians. My Lord, it’s common sense.”
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