Daniel Dae Kim, a veteran actor best known for prominent roles on TV shows Lost and Hawaii Five-0, has tested positive for Coronavirus.
He’s the latest in a long line of celebrities to reveal such a diagnosis.
The 51-year oold said in a lengthy statement that he started developing symptoms on his flight back to his home in Hawaii after spending several weeks filming in New York City.
He was on his way home after production closed down on New Amsterdam due to the virus and was “asymptomatic” during that time, Kim explained.
“But as the flight was close to landing, I started noticing some scratchiness in my throat, which is unlike how I usually get sick,” he said on Instagram.
“So when I landed, I called my family doctor in Hawaii and he told me to monitor my symptoms.”
Continued the popular star:
‘To be safe, when I got home, I quarantined myself in a room in the house and tried to rest on my own.
“But later that night, I started feeling tightness in my chest, body aches and my temperature started to rise. So he then told me to get tested.”
From there, Kim said he went to one of the newly-built, publicly available drive-thru testing centers in Honolulu.
(Wouldn’t it be amazing if all states had multiple locations such as this?)
“The test itself was really awkward and a little painful, because they shove a huge swab into your nose and into your throat, but it was worth it, because of what I found out,” he said.
A father of two, Kim says he was able to manage his symptoms on his own in self-isolation with medication from his doctor, although he did not specify the type.
“I never went to a hospital, but with the help of medication, bed rest, liquids and, of course, my loving family, I didn’t need to.
“I actually started feeling better the day after, and I started feeling a little better the day after that, and today, even though I’m not 100 percent, I’m pretty close,” he said.
The Hawaii Five-O then offered to help with efforts to create a vaccine for COVID-19.
“With any luck, I will have actually built up an immunity to this virus when all of this is said and done,” he said, adding:
“So I may not actually need the vaccine when it comes out.
“I hope it does soon though, and I will gladly contribute in any way I can, including donating antibodies in the pursuit of finding a vaccine for everyone.”
Kim appeared on multiple episodes of The Good Doctor as Dr. Jackson Han and starred for seven seasons on Hawaii Five-0 as Chin Ho Kelly and for the entire run of Lost as Jin-Soo Kwon.
Other notable entertainers who have been diagnosed with an illness that has been dubbed a pandemic and which has led to an essential shut down of the United States are:
Tom Hanks, Kevin Durant, Idris Elba and Sean Payton.
“I guess it’s nice to be mentioned in the same breath as Tom Hanks and Idris Elba, two of my favorite actors,” Kim joked. “I guess I’m in some pretty good company.”
He ended by asking folks — hello, President Trump! — to stop being racist by referring to this ilness as the Chinese Virus and to stop blaming the Chinese for this outbreak.
And then he urged everyone out there to be careful:
Thankfully for me it was not a matter of life or death.
But even though I’m smiling and upbeat now, for several days I was in bed, so for all those out there, especially teenagers and millennials who think this is not serious, please know that it is.
And if you treat this without care, you are potentially endangering the lives of millions of people, including your loved ones.
So for the sake of everyone else, please follow the guidelines. Socially distance, self-isolate, stop touching your face and of course, wash your hands.