The stars of the 2011 infection spine-chiller Contagion — an insightful film nowadays — have rejoined for a progression of open help declarations to warn about COVID-19. Matt Damon, Laurence Fishburne, Kate Winslet, and Jennifer Ehle have collaborated with researchers from Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health to offer four individual handcrafted recordings with exhortation and a message of solidarity.
“Wash your hands like your life depends on it,” Winslet says in her PSA. “Because right now, in particular, it just might.” Ehle stresses that the coronavirus is novel, meaning no one is immune. “Every single one of us, regardless of age or ethnicity, is at risk of getting it,” she says.
Damon, who in the film played a character who was immune to the hypothetical virus, also stresses listening to experts and staying six feet apart. “That was a movie. This is real life,” he says. “I have no reason to believe that I’m immune to COVID-19. And neither do you.”