Sharon Stone speaks on Instagram. Photo / Sharon Stone
Sharon Stone speaks on Instagram. Photo / Sharon Stone
Actress Sharon Stone has delivered an emotional update on life in America's heartland as the country grapples with the coronavirus pandemic.
The Basic Instinct star, 62, said she had already lost both her grandmother and godmother to the virus. Now, her sister Kelly Stone and sister's husband Bruce are "fightingfor their lives" in a Montana hospital as they both battle coronavirus.
In a video posted to her Instagram, Stone explained that the couple had "stayed at home as long as they could" before they were admitted to hospital. Kelly also suffers from lupus, making her condition potentially more serious.
Stone said the health system in her sister's state was overloaded.
"In Montana, you can't get tested unless you're symptomatic and then you don't get your test results for five days," she said.
"Also, the people that they came in contact with, like my mother, who's had two heart attacks, five stents and a pacemaker in the last five months, couldn't get a test because she wasn't symptomatic even though she could have been their asymptomatic contact that gave them Covid," she continued. "The nurses in the hospital that are taking care of them can't get tested because they don't have tests to test them with."
Stone slammed those in the States who were protesting against having to wear masks.
"Those nurses are risking their lives and CANNOT get tested. The stress, the strain, the exhaustion that's happening in that hospital is met with the conflict around the courthouse, where people are carrying guns and saying that it's their freedom not to have to wear a mask," she said.
Stone, who has been a longtime supporter of lupus charities, is incredibly worried about her sister who has lupus and is battling coronavirus. Photo / AP
She said she'd repeatedly called the offices of Montana's governor and health department in her efforts to assist her family, but to no avail.
"The people at the governor's houses, at the health departments, are simply so overwhelmed that they're not answering phones, they're hanging up. This is the state that we're in," she said.
"This is the state of affairs in the middle of our country. You, the people in the middle of our country, are at great risk of dying from Covid. They keep saying that the risks are so small… but I'm telling you what's going on with my family. My grandmother died of Covid, and my godmother died of Covid. My sister and her husband are fighting for their lives and my sister is not doing well."
"When they say there are tests for everyone, they're LYING. When they say there are tests even for the nurses in the hospitals, they are lying. People are dying and fighting for their lives, because there's nothing but lies."
Stone finished her message with a call for her followers to vote for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in the November presidential election. She said it was "the only thing that will change this".
"The reason that's going to happen is because with women in power, we will fight for our families, we will fight for people to live and we will fight for people to get tested. Because the only countries that are doing well with Covid are the ones that have women in leadership," she said.
"Please vote – and whatever you do, don't vote for a killer."
America leads the world in coronavirus cases, with more than 5.6 million people infected and a death toll which currently stands at more than 173,000.
Fellow actress, Charmed star Alyssa Milano last week offered a confronting look at her own months-long coronavirus battle, experiencing an array of long-lasting symptoms – including hair loss.
