Fame is the most powerful vaccine against reality; can’t wait for COVID-19 the movie!

Madonna ... ‘we’re all in this together’. Picture: AP

Hey, we’re all in this together! Madonna, Twitter, Monday:

That’s the thing about COVID-19, it doesn’t care about how rich you are, how famous you are … it’s the great equaliser …

No-Discrimination- Covid-19!! #quarantine #covid_19 #staysafe #becreative #brianeno pic.twitter.com/tvdzeJ7vv9

— Madonna (@Madonna) March 22, 2020

Famously positive. People magazine, Sunday:

Celebrities Who Have Tested Positive for Coronavirus:
No 21 Bond girl Olga Kurylenko
No 22 Border guy Peter Dutton

Jennifer Schaffer, The Guardian, Saturday:

… in America, fame doesn’t just make you rich: it makes you a role model. So it makes sense that over the past, terrifying week — a week which has set the foundation of modern life shaking like the San Andreas Fault — we have seen a slew of beloved celebrities solemnly, dutifully announcing that they have received a positive test result for COVID-19. Idris Elba, Tom Hanks, Kevin Durant, Daniel Dae Kim … Still other celebrities have announced their negative test results, including Heidi Klum and Kris Jenner (and some) received tests after using their platforms to complain about not being able to get tested … (when this is over) I hope whichever actor wins an Oscar for their portrayal of a delivery worker during the COVID-19 crisis donates all of their earnings to medical research.

At least there’s celebrity music therapy. Chris Murphy, Vulture magazine, Monday:

In these anxiety-ridden times, where can we turn for comfort? Music, of course! While everyone is more or less trapped in their residences for the foreseeable future, artists like Yo-Yo Ma, Lizzo and the currently quarantined Rita Wilson (Tom Hanks’s tuneful wife) have been sharing their musical talents on social media in the hopes it will provide some entertainment or peace of mind to their fans. This movement has sparked a new genre, which Wilson has aptly named “quarantuning”.

But what are the celebs really hiding? The Millennial Source, Saturday:

In recent days, viral posts on Facebook and Twitter have alleged that celebrities who have contracted COVID-19 are in fact not sick but are using the virus to cover for having been arrested …

Never mind conspiracy nuts, red-carpet access to COVID-19 testing is a real issue. Undark.org, March 19:

While testing for the coronavirus becomes the most in-demand “luxury” good among the famous and wealthy, it remains out of reach for the rest of the population (most importantly) frontline responders like policemen, paramedics, family doctors and medical staff actually working on wards devoted to the COVID-19 illness … Outbreaks have a way of revealing a society’s values. Are these really going to be ours? … In a pandemic, the healthcare workforce is our most precious resource. Unlike masks and ventilators, doctors, nurses and other healthcare personnel have trained for years to gain skills that we desperately need to combat this virus, and it is impossible to replace them easily. As my former (medical) student wrote: “We will lose the battle against this virus if we lose our healthcare workers this early into the outbreak” … The rich, after all, can stay cocooned in the safety of their homes …

Journalist Alessandra Bocchi, posting a photo of six exhausted faces without names, Twitter, Monday:

Some of the faces of Italy’s nurses fighting tirelessly against the coronavirus while risking infection. Medical personnel are now 8.7 per cent of overall coronavirus cases in the country.