The Weekend Leader - Surviving COVID-19: Rita Wilson on 'extreme side effects' of chloroquine

Surviving COVID-19: Rita Wilson on 'extreme side effects' of chloroquine

Los Angeles

15-April-2020

 Actress Rita Wilson has opened up about her experience after testing COVID-19 positive. Wilson and her husband, Hollywood star Tom Hanks, had tested positive during an Autralia tour but have since then recuperated.

Wilson recalls experiencing extreme chills and body aches, and says she lost her taste and smell while battling the virus.

Wilson and Hanks were two of the first celebrities to reveal their positive diagnosis last month, which happened while they were in Australia. Hanks was filming an untitled Elvis Presley film in the country.

The couple are now back in Los Angeles, and in a recent interview, Wilson talked about her recovery process. She said she was given chloroquine -- a drug used to treat malaria and certain inflammatory conditions -- to help with her fever, which she shared was close to 102 by day nine of her fighting the virus, reports etonline.com.

"I know people have been talking (about) this drug, but I can only tell you that I don't know if the drug worked or it was just time for the fever to break," Wilson said.

"My fever did break, but the chloroquine had such extreme side effects."

"I was completely nauseous and I had vertigo," she continued. "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."

She believes they both contracted COVID-19 at the same time rather than infecting one another.

"It was somebody they said that Tom and I were both exposed to at the same time," she shared. "We don't know when that could have been or where, but all I can say is all of our close contacts -- our family, our work team -- no one has tested positive."

Meanwhile, 63-year-old Hanks has also been spreading positivity after recovering from the coronavirus. He recently delivered a monologue shot entirely at his own house for "Saturday Night Live: At Home".

"Now, my wife and I, we're doing fine, we're doing great," Hanks shared. "We're hunkered down like all of us should be. In fact, this suit, this is the first time I've worn anything other than sweat pants since March 11. And my wife had to help me put it on, because I forgot how buttons work."

"Stay safe. We are in this for the duration and we will get through this together. We are going to thank our hospital workers, our first responders and all the helpers, the supermarket stockers, the people who deliver our food, the people who are making takeout for us, the men and women who are keeping this country going at a time when we need them more than ever before," Hanks said.

"We're going to take care of them and we're going to take care of each other." IANS



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