A medical consultant on Contagion, the 2011 movie about a fictional pandemic, has now tested positive for COVID-19.
Dr. Ian Lipkin, director of Columbia University's Center for Infection and Immunity, spoke to Fox Business on Tuesday about the coronavirus pandemic and at the end of the segment revealed he just recently tested positive himself.
"I would just like to say on this show tonight that this has become very personal for me, too, because I have COVID as of yesterday," he said. "And it is miserable. ... If it can hit me, it can hit anybody. That's the message I want to convey."
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Lipkin consulted on Steven Soderbergh's film Contagion, which has seen a resurgence in popularity over the past few weeks as it became uncomfortably relevant amid the pandemic. USA Today reports that "some Contagion scenes reflect Lipkin's own experiences in Beijing when he assisted the World Health Organization and the Chinese Health Ministry during the 2003 SARS outbreak in 2003."
Another adviser on the film, Tracey McNamara, recently told BuzzFeed News amid this increased attention, "I wish people had paid closer attention to it when the film came out, because it really was a warning to the federal government that this could happen and you need to prepare."
Lipkin also weighed in on President Trump's desire to have the county "opened up" by Easter, warning, "We really don't know when we're going to get this under control." Brendan Morrow
