Rita Wilson and Tom Hanks have emerged as examples of what can—and should—happen when you get diagnosed with coronavirus. The pair immediately shared their status and followed doctors’ instructions to a T, all while trying to keep their chins up and fans entertained through their ordeal on social media.
The 63-year-old Wilson spoke with CBS This Morning‘s Gayle King about their ordeal, and revealed more details about their illness and recovery. As many will recall, the pair were diagnosed with coronavirus in Australia where Hanks was shooting a film. After being quarantined in a hospital in Queensland, they returned to L.A.
Wilson described her symptoms before diagnosis: “I was very tired. I felt extremely achy. Uncomfortable, didn’t want to be touched. And then the fever started. Chills like I’ve never had before. Looking back, I also realized that I was losing my sense of taste and smell, which I didn’t realize at the time.”
Wilson said that her fever “got close to about 102 by day nine.”
Doctors treated her with chloroquine, an Immunosuppressive drug that is typically used to treat malaria. “My fever did break, but the chloroquine had such extreme side effects. I was completely nauseous and I had vertigo. I could not walk and my muscles felt very weak. I think people have to be very considerate about that drug. We don’t know if it’s helpful in this case.”
Wilson said Hanks has “milder symptoms.”
She said: “He did not have as high a fever. He did not lose his sense of taste or smell. But it still took us the same amount of time to get through it.”
“We recently had been part of a study where we donated our blood and we are waiting to hear back if our antibodies will be helpful in developing a vaccine,” she explained. “But also if we are able to donate plasma that can be used as donation to other people that are suffering from the virus because we are immune.”
