Pop Culture

Tom Hanks to People Not Wearing Masks or Social Distancing: 'Shame on You'

Tom Hanks was among the first celebrities to test positive for the coronavirus, and now he's speaking up on the importance of wearing masks.

tom hanks
Image via Getty/Leon Bennett
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Tom Hanks was among the first celebrities to test positive for the coronavirus, and now he's speaking up on the importance of wearing masks and washing your hands. Ever since the U.S. went into lockdown in March, there's been an increase in individuals not taking the situation seriously. At a press conference for his new Apple TV+ movie Greyhound, Hanks expressed his concern at people making zero effort to stop the spread of COVID-19.

"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, according to People. "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. Don't be a p*ssy, get on with it, do your part. 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."

Back in March, Hanks confirmed him and his wife Rita Wilson had tested positive for the virus. The pair was quarantined for two weeks in Australia while they were there for pre-production of an elvis biopic that Hanks is starring in. They have since returned to their home in Los Angeles after making a full recovery, and have continued to self-isolate ever since.

During the Greyhound press conference, Hanks also offered an update on his and Wilson's situation months after they were diagnosed. "Oh, as the canaries in the coal mine for the COVID-19 experience, we are fine," he said. "We had about 10 days of very uncomfortable symptoms. Not life-threatening, we’re happy to say. 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 so, we are fine."

In April, Hanks revealed that he had donated blood to help assist the development of a potential coronavirus vaccine.

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