From The Trussville Tribune staff reports
AUSTRALIA – Rita Wilson and beloved cultural icon Tom Hanks announced on Wednesday that they have tested positives for the coronavirus.
The couple were in Australia for production of an upcoming untitled Elvis Presley movie.
Hanks, 63, is playing Presley’s manager, Colonel Tom Parker.
“Hello, folks. Rita and I are down here in Australia,” Hanks said in a statement to Deadline. “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!”
The World Health Organization declared on Wednesday that the global coronavirus crisis is now a pandemic but added that it’s not too late for countries to act.
By reversing course and using the charged word “pandemic” that it had previously shied away from, the U.N. health agency sought to shock lethargic countries into pulling out all the stops.
“We have called every day for countries to take urgent and aggressive action. We have rung the alarm bell loud and clear,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO chief.
“All countries can still change the course of this pandemic. If countries detect, test, treat, isolate, trace and mobilize their people in the response,” he said. “We are deeply concerned by the alarming levels of spread and severity and by the alarming levels of inaction.”