Coronavirus: Hugh Laurie imagines what House would have said about pandemic

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House ended long before the coronavirus pandemic began, leaving Hugh Laurie wondering what the eponymous doctor would have said in these troubled times.

The actor shared his best bet in a recent tweet, writing: ”I can’t speak for House, obviously – no one’s written clever words for me to say – but I’m pretty sure he’d tell you it’s not a matter of ‘solving’ Covid.

“This is an epidemic, not a diagnostic problem. We solve it together by staying apart.”

Laurie played Dr Gregory House, the beloved, misanthropic New Jersey doctor, for eight years between 2004 and 2012.

Since then, he has starred in Veep, The Night Manager, Chance, Catch-22, and Avenue 5.

In an earlier tweet, Laurie celebrated essential workers still performing their duties despite the pandemic.

“When this is over, what say we all pitch in and buy health care workers, couriers, hauliers, farmers, millers, grocers, bakers, sewage workers, power workers, teachers, fire fighters and police officers a bottle of something?” he wrote.

He later added: ”Thanks to those who’ve taken the trouble to tell me that decent pay and conditions for essential workers might be preferable to a bottle of something. Bigger thanks to those who knew that’s what I meant.”

Laurie also shared these words of encouragements: ”Chin up, everybody. This will work. However irksome it is for us, it’s much worse for the virus. Picture the little bugger with its nose against the window, whining.”