<![CDATA[TV journalist Richard Wilkins has coronavirus after ‘chat’ with Rita Wilson]]> https://usagag.com/2020/03/16/tv-journalist-richard-wilkins-has-coronavirus-after-chat-with-rita-wilson/ Mon, 16 Mar 2020 14:16:16 +0000 hourly 1 https://usagag.com TV journalist Richard Wilkins has coronavirus after ‘chat’ with Rita Wilson An Australian journalist has tested positive for coronavirus just days after twice meeting Tom Hanks’ infected wife Rita Wilson.

“I bet Tom and Rita feel bloody terrible,” Nine Network entertainment editor Richard Wilkins said after confirming he contacted COVID-19.

Wilkins said he only got tested after the Hollywood couple announced last Wednesday that they were positive for COVID-19 and self-isolating in the Land Down Under.

The 65-year-old “Weekend Today” hosts was told late Sunday that he also had the disease — forcing his celebrity son, Christian Wilkins, to also get tested and take a break from the Australian version of “Dancing With the Stars.”

David Campbell and Belinda Russell — the Two Nine hosts who interviewed Wilson in their Sydney studio on March 9 — remained in isolation in their homes on Monday waiting on test results.

Wilkins told his station in a FaceTime chat that he was “surprisingly very well” and did not feel sick.

“You could’ve knocked me over with a feather last night when I got that call. It took me a couple of minutes to reel from the news that they gave me,” he said from his home in Sydney.

“But I feel fine. I feel 100% … I feel terrific,” he insisted.

Tom Hanks and Rita WilsonFilmMagic
He met Wilson twice in the week leading up to her own diagnoses — at the Sydney Opera House on March 7 and again at Nine’s Sydney studio on March 9.

“We’re assuming this is from Rita, but it may not be. They’ve all said it could be anyone, anywhere, any time, such is the prevalence of this thing,” Wilkins said from his home in Sydney.

“I was having a chat to her and that’s probably my best guess as to what happened,” he added, saying he would not have sought testing if not for meeting her.

The Gold Coast University Hospital where the US actor Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson were admitted for the COVID-19 coronavirusAFP /AFP via Getty Images

Wilkins said he did not inform his son until after he had danced on the reality TV show, which is currently being filmed without a studio audience because of the pandemic.

“I called him up after his show last night and he was — and still is — very, very upset,” the father said.

“He’s going to get tested in an hour and, fingers crossed, he’ll be OK, which I’m sure he is,” he added.

“The ripple effect of this thing is enormous. I pray to God that nobody else has got it from me.

With Post wires

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