On Mar. 19, Asian-American actor Daniel Dae Kim announced that he was tested positive for Covid-19.
The 51-year-old, most known for his roles in “Lost” and “Hawaii Five-0”, shared this news in a 10-minute Instagram video:
The video has since been watched over 725,000 times.
Tested positive in Honolulu after returning from filming in New York
For the past several weeks, Kim had been shooting for a series in New York where he plays a doctor who gets recruited to a hospital to help patients during a flu pandemic.
When news of the virus hitting America came in, Kim’s show – “New Amsterdam” – stopped production.
According to Kim, the first thing he wanted to do was to go back to Hawaii, to his family.
While on his flight home to Hawaii, Kim said that he had felt a “scratchiness in his throat”.
He later on experienced body aches, a rising temperature and tightness in his chest at night.
Ever since returning, Kim mentioned that he had isolated himself, having left his home only once to go to a drive-through testing facility in Honolulu.
The actor also explained that while he was diagnosed with Covid-19, he did not need to go to the hospital and has started feeling better in recent days.
His whole family has tested negative for the virus as well.
Believes that quality healthcare for everyone is a right, not a privilege
In the video, Kim stressed that teenagers and millennials out there should know that “the pandemic is serious”.
If they continue to treat the virus without care, they will “potentially endanger the lives of millions of people, including their loved ones.”
Additionally, Kim urged people to follow guidelines of social distancing, self isolating, not touching one’s face and washing one’s hands.
Kim said that he had debated for a long time about whether or not to talk about his diagnosis as he had read some backlash over those who did, saying that they had gotten special treatment.
Kim clarified that he had never asked for, nor expected special treatment from anyone, and believes that quality healthcare – not just healthcare – is a right, and not a privilege.
“Everyone who meets the qualifications to be tested should be, because the virus doesn’t care about race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, whether you’re rich or poor, or your immigration status,” he had said.
Kim also lauded those who continue to “work at grocery stores or pharmacies and airlines, taxis, ride-sharing cars” as they are often taken for granted, but are now the glue keeping society together.
Spoke out against prejudice and senseless violence against Asian people
Around the seven-minute mark of his video, Kim spoke out against anti-Asian racism and discrimination.
“Please stop the prejudice and senseless violence against Asian people. Randomly beating elderly, sometimes homeless Asian Americans is cowardly, heartbreaking and inexcusable,” Kim said.
Ever since the spread of the virus began, racist attacks against Asians have been reported in New York, London, Israel and more.
Kim also made reference to the U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to call Covid-19 “the Chinese virus”, by stating that “despite what certain political leaders want to call it, I don’t consider the place where it’s (the virus) from as important as the people who are sick and dying.”
He added that “when people are ill, what matters most is how best to take care of ourselves and each other.”
Second video updating progress with illness
On Mar. 22, Kim uploaded a second video, updating his progress with the illness.
In the seven-minute video, Kim thanked his fans and followers for the love and support they had showered him in his last post.
He said that his progress has continued and that he feels “practically back to normal.”
Kim also added that he is lucky to be in the 80 per cent of diagnosed cases that have not required hospitalisation.
Kim said that he will not be tested again after his isolation ends on Mar. 23 as there are not enough test kits for those who need them in the U.S.
Kim also mentioned that there is general shortage of medical supplies in the U.S, which has mystified him as the country had a “several month head start” in preparing for the outbreak.
Medications Kim took to recover
Apart from updates about his progress with the illness, Kim spoke about the medications he took to recover, although he noted that his word should not be taken as that of a medical professional.
According to him, he took a drug cocktail of Tamiflu (an anti-viral), the antibiotic azithromycin, a glycopyrrolate inhaler and hydroxychloroquine (a common anti-malaria drug).
Kim added that while hydroxychloroquine has been used extensively in Korea in their fight against the virus, it is an “off-label drug” that has not been specifically approved for use against the Covid-19 virus.
However, Kim believes that the hydroxychloroquine, as with the other drugs he took, were crucial to his recovery.
Kim also referenced a doctor – Paul Song – who posted a study about the drug on his Instagram account:
Kim also believes he is recovering so quickly because he was able to take these drugs before his fever got severe.
Kim added that if one is able to recognise their symptoms quickly, they should consult a doctor about it as soon as they can.
Finally, Kim ended his video by saying that while his political beliefs might not be the same as everyone’s, what’s most important is that “we put people over politics and take care of one another” in times like this.
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Top image via danieldaekim on Instagram and CBS Photo Archive
