Tom Hanks said Saturday that he and his wife Rita Wilson have returned to the U.S. after they recently tested positive for COVID-19 and were quarantined in Australia.
“We are home now and, like the rest of America, we carry on with sheltering in place and social distancing,” Mr. Hanks said in a statement shared from the actor’s Twitter account.
“Many, many thanks to everyone in Australia who looked after us. Their care and guidance made possible our return to the U.S,” added Mr. Hanks. “And many thanks to all of you who reached out with well wishes. Rite and I so appreciate it.”
Mr. Hanks had revealed on March 11 that he and his wife, a successful entertainer in her own right, had tested positive for COVID-19, the highly infectious and potentially deadly respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus discovered at the end of last year in Wuhan, China. They were subsequently quarantined for two weeks.
“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?” he wrote at the time.
The announcement made the Hollywood couple among the first well-known Americans to announce they had been diagnosed with the disease when the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 across the country was a fraction of its current tally.
Although the World Health Organization formally declared the coronavirus outbreak to be a pandemic on the same day Mr. Hanks disclosed the couple’s condition, the number of known COVID-19 cases in the U.S. at the time could be counted by the hundreds. A report published shortly before midnight that evening said there were least 1,267 domestic cases of COVID-19 and 38 deaths caused by the disease.
Less than three weeks later, more than 116,000 cases of COVID-19 have been counted across the U.S., according to data maintained by Johns Hopkins University.
The coronavirus has killed more than 1,900 people across the U.S. as of Saturday afternoon, according to Johns Hopkins.
Celebrities to test positive for COVID-19 after Mr. Hanks and Ms. Wilson include professional basketball player Steph Curry and TV personality Andy Cohen, among others.
More recently, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced Saturday that he was diagnosed with COVID-19 and experiencing mild symptoms.
Mr. Hanks, an Academy Award winner, and Ms. Wilson, an acclaimed actress, singer and producer, have been married since 1988.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control individuals aged 65 and older are at a higher risk of becoming severely ill or dying from COVID-19, as well as individuals with underlying health conditions and the immunocompromised. Both Mr. Hanks and Ms. Wilson are 63 years old.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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