The Tom Hanks COVID-19 Coronavirus Diagnosis meme stems from the actor's March 11, 2020, Instagram announcement where he revealed that he and his wife, Rita Wilson, had tested positive for the virus while filming in Australia. For many, this event served as the definitive turning point when the pandemic moved from a distant news story to an unavoidable global reality. The image of his announcement—often paired with a photo of a single surgical glove in a biohazard bin—became a template for expressing shock, the end of normalcy, or the realization that 2020 was going to be an unprecedented year. It is widely used to mark the exact moment the severity of the situation finally hit home for the general public.