Nancy Sinatra: “Wear a mask in public places. #maskup”

On Wednesday, May 13, singer Nancy Sinatra joined the growing list of celebrities urging mask-wearing to prevent the spread of airborne pathogens.

Her post on X, formerly Twitter, read:

Sinatra’s post follows other recent examples of celebrities wearing masks or publicly speaking about the reasons they continue to take COVID precautions.

Tom Hanks

In October 2025, actor Tom Hanks was photographed wearing a high-filtration mask on the New York subway.

Hanks, along with his wife, actor and singer Rita Wilson, were among the first major celebrities to publicly disclose a COVID-19 diagnosis in March 2020.

He later addressed the mask during an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, describing the choice as a health precaution.

I’m doing a play right now so I cannot get sick… I’ve had COVID enough in my life, I don’t need to do that again. So I’m wearing this for health reasons.

Serj Tankian

In April, Serj Tankian, the lead vocalist of System of a Down, was photographed wearing a KN95 mask while signing autographs at his Kavat Coffee venue.

The photo was shared by the World Health Network and covered by Nu Metal Agenda. The magazine noted that, six months earlier, Tankian was photographed wearing a mask while signing autographs.

Sarah Michelle Gellar

In September 2025, actor Sarah Michelle Gellar, best known for starring in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, shared a behind-the-scenes Instagram carousel from the set of the planned Buffy reboot. One image showed her wearing a high-filtration respirator mask.

The photo followed Gellar’s 2022 public account of a serious course of COVID.

She wrote on her Instagram Story:

After two and a half years COVID finally got me. Thankfully I’m vaccinated and boosted. But to those out there that say ‘it’s just a cold’ … maybe for some lucky people it is. But for this (relatively) young fit person, who has struggled with asthma and lung issues her entire life, that is not my experience.

Gellar continued:

Even with therapeutics and all my protocols it’s been tough. I know I’m on the road to recovery, but it’s certainly not been an easy road … To quote a friend of mine – ‘I will wear a mask in my shower if that means I don’t get this again.

Morgan Fairchild

There are also celebrities who have consistently supported mask wearing and COVID awareness.

Morgan Fairchild, the veteran television actor known for Flamingo Road, Falcon Crest, Friends, and General Hospital, has been a vocal advocate of mask wearing.

After the death of her longtime partner Mark Seiler in 2023, Fairchild wrote that Seiler had Parkinson’s disease, but that Long COVID, after a third infection, seemed to have taken his life:

Hold your loved ones close and please consider wearing a mask.

Matt McGorry

Matt McGorry, the actor and activist known for Orange Is the New Black and How to Get Away with Murder, has spoken publicly about living with Long COVID after two COVID infections.

He has described debilitating fatigue, dysautonomia, depression, Raynaud’s disease and brain fog, while urging people to wear masks in shared essential spaces. He has also warned that Long COVID can affect multiple organ systems and that avoiding or reducing repeat infections is central to prevention.

Wil Wheaton

Actor and writer Wil Wheaton, best known for Star Trek: The Next Generation and Stand by Me, has also been public about mask wearing. In 2023, Wheaton wrote that he continued to mask in crowds and indoor spaces because, since making that choice, he had avoided colds, flu, and COVID.

That changed in 2025, when he said he caught COVID after Rose City Comic Con.

Hey friends, bad news. I am extremely disappointed that I am not able to sit down with @debbiegibson tonight to talk about her memoir. I’ve been looking forward to this for months, but I’m in no condition to be on stage or in public, because after being so careful for so long, I let my guard down at Rose city comic con last weekend, and I caught Covid for the first time.

Wheaton continued:

Wow Covid sucks. It sucks so much. Do whatever you can to prevent yourself from catching it.

I’m so annoyed, because it was so avoidable, and I’m extra pissed at myself for allowing the people who never stopped complaining about my choice to continue masking to influence my decisions about my health and my family’s health. Never again.

To everyone who was looking forward to seeing us chat tonight, I’m so sorry that I can’t be there. Knowing Debbie like I do, though, I know that she’s going to give you a magical show.

Stay healthy everyone.

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Andes hantavirus

The visibility around celebrity mask-wearing is occurring during the Andes hantavirus outbreak linked to the MV Hondius, a Dutch-flagged cruise ship. The outbreak was first reported on May 2, after severe respiratory illness cases were identified aboard the ship. The vessel had 147 people on board, including 88 passengers and 59 crew members, and had departed Ushuaia, Argentina, on April 1.

The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that, as of May 13, the outbreak had reached 11 reported cases among passengers, including three deaths. WHO’s latest formal count listed eight laboratory-confirmed cases, two probable cases and one inconclusive case still undergoing testing. All confirmed cases were Andes virus infections.

Several passengers have required hospital care. Four patients were hospitalized as of May 8: one in intensive care in Johannesburg, South Africa; two in the Netherlands; and one in Zurich, Switzerland. A French passenger is critically ill in Paris and receiving life support, while a Spanish passenger who tested positive was quarantined at Gómez Ulla Central Defence Hospital in Madrid.

In the United States, the CDC has reported that: 18 passengers from the cruise were being monitored at US medical facilities; 16 at the University of Nebraska Medical Center; and two in Atlanta, including one person experiencing symptoms. A total of 41 people in the United States are being monitored for possible exposure.

Andes virus is an RNA orthohantavirus driven by infection of the endothelium, the lining of the blood vessels, especially in the lung microvasculature. The WHO reports that case fatality for hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome in the Americas can reach 40% to 50%. Andes virus is the only hantavirus known to spread person to person.

Airborne transmission occurs through respiratory secretions, especially in the early, or prodromal phase, before the onset of cardiopulmonary symptoms, when patients may still be interacting with others. Andes virus infects the cells lining the respiratory tract. Those infected cells then release the virus back into the airway, so it is incorporated into the fluid particles people generate when they breathe, talk, cough or exhale.

This is supported by the weight of research. A 2022 systematic review of 22 studies found evidence for person-to-person transmission of Andes hantavirus. A Chilean pathology study found Andes virus in alveolar epithelial cells, airway macrophages and salivary glands, concluding that these findings support respiratory person-to-person transmission. Argentine sequencing studies documented person-to-person transmission, including a 2014 cluster confirmed by viral sequencing, concluding that spread likely occurred around the early/prodromal period.

Like SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID, Andes virus is an endothelial infection spread through airborne transmission. For this reason, celebrities like Nancy Sinatra calling for mask wearing during the Andes virus outbreak shows why airborne infection precautions remains essential. When public health communication about infectious disease remains contested, celebrity mask wearing helps normalize prevention.

Featured image via X

By Protect the Heart of the Arts

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