Rita Wilson is opening up about her experience with the novel coronavirus. In her first interview since she was diagnosed with COVID-19 over a month ago, Wilson detailed her symptoms and the “extreme side effects” she experienced during her treatment.
“I felt extremely achy, uncomfortable, didn’t want to be touched, and then the fever started,” she told CBS This Morning‘s Gayle King. Wilson said she lost her sense of taste and smell, and at one point her fever reached 102 degrees and she suffered from “chills like I never had before.”
She also detailed her experience being treated with the antimalarial drug chloroquine, which has caused some controversy and debate over its use as a possible treatment for COVID-19. “I can only tell you that I don’t know if the drug worked or if it was just time for the fever to break,” she said. “The fever did break, but the chloroquine had such extreme side effects. I was completely nauseous and I had vertigo and my muscles felt very weak. I think people have to be very considerate about that drug. We don’t really know if it is helpful in this case.”
Wilson was first diagnosed alongside her husband, Tom Hanks, while the two were in Australia. According to Wilson, Hanks experienced milder symptoms. “He did not have as high a fever,” she said. “He did not lose his sense of taste or smell, but it still took us the same time to get through it.” Wilson also said their doctors believe the two now have immunity to the virus, and both have donated blood to assist in the research for a vaccine. To watch the full interview, click the link here.
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