Daniel Dae Kim Tests Positive for Coronavirus

Daniel Dae Kim announced on Instagram on Thursday that he’s tested positive for coronavirus, opening up about his journey to diagnosis and pleading for the public to follow self-isolation guidelines.

The actor, who is now in Hawaii and was there when he obtained his test, was in New York the past few weeks, shooting on the NBC series “New Amsterdam.”

“I wanted to let you know that yesterday I tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus,” he said. He noted that “ironically” he had been playing a doctor who “gets recruited to help patients during a flu pandemic.” He acknowledged that when news of the real-life pandemic broke, the show shut down production, and he returned to his family in Hawaii.

“It’s important for you guys to know that I was asymptomatic during all of this time,” he said, although when the flight was landing he noticed “scratchiness” in his throat. “To be safe, when I got home I quarantined myself in a room in the house and tried to rest on my own,” he said.

It was then that his symptoms got worse, including tightness in his chest, body aches and a fever. Kim shares he went to a “drive-through testing facility that had just opened in Honolulu,” and the test was painful — “They shove a huge swab into your nose and into your throat,” he said — but worth it.

In addition to apologizing to the cast and crew members he may have unknowingly exposed to the virus, he also used his platform to stress the importance of health and safety precautions.

“For all those out there, especially teenagers and millennials who think this is not serious, please know that it is,” he said in his 10-minute video. “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.”

As tests for this virus are still hard to come by, Kim also spoke out about the state of healthcare in the United States today.

“I believe that healthcare for all is a right, not a privilege. And not just healthcare, but quality healthcare. Everyone who meets the qualifications to be tested should be. Because the virus doesn’t care about race or gender, religion, sexual orientation, whether you’re rich or poor, or your immigration status. Only we seem to care about that,” he said.

Kim is the latest celebrity to go public with a diagnosis, following the likes of Kevin Durant, Tom Hanks and “Game of Thrones” actor Kristofer Hivju.