'We don’t want to be on ventilators. We gotta do it cold turkey,' the Oscar winner tweeted on Monday.
Patricia Arquette has decided to make a big life change in the face of growing concerns over the coronavirus outbreak.
The Escape at Dannemora actress has decided to put her health first and use her self-isolation as a jumping-off point in her efforts to quit smoking.
Arquette, 51, took to Twitter on Monday to share the news with fans and encourage them to join her in getting healthy in the face of possible respiratory infection.
"As COVID-19 attacks the lungs one of the most important things you can do is to quit smoking and vaping," the Oscar winner wrote. "I’m in day 3. Care to join?"
She later shared another message of support, championing her fans' efforts to quit smoking as well, for the sake of a healthier life.
"We can do this this f-cking virus attacks lungs. We don’t want to be on ventilators," she tweeted. "We gotta do it cold turkey."
The actress -- who has been vocal in her commentary on the coronavirus pandemic, the US government's response to the outbreak, and encouraging her fans to stay safe and follow social distancing guidelines -- also interacted with fans who commented on her original post.
Arquette told one fan, who asked how she's been holding up, that kicking the habit has been "mostly fine with a few homicidal feelings thrown in."
As for another user who suggested she compensate for the lack of nicotine with the use of "edibles," Arquette responded, "I'm ahead of you there."
She also responded to another user who shared a story about losing her own father to lung cancer in 2012 and explained how "seeing him go from this strong and seemingly healthy man to skin and bones was the hardest thing I've had to see."
"I’m so sorry," replied Arquette -- who is the mother to a 31-year-old son, Enzo, and a 17-year-old daughter, Harlow. "Yes, I don’t [want] my kids to go through that."
Arquette even came up with a catchy name for her new group of supportive Twitter friends looking to break their nicotine addiction together.
"We will call our quitters gang THE HELLXATS," she tweeted, excitedly.
As the coronavirus pandemic continues to spread and the outbreak sweeps across the country, states and cities nationwide have started implementing social distancing protocols, designed to encourage people to stay home and away from large crowds.
The effort to stop or slow the spread of COVID-19 has led to the cancellation of nearly every planned event in show business, the closure of nearly every casino in Las Vegas and postponement of essentially all concerts and festivals for the next several months.
While Arquette is taking steps to improve her health during this outbreak, a number of celebrities have also contracted the illness, including Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, actress and model Olga Kurylenko, Game of Thrones star Kristofer Hivju and Idris Elba.
In the United States alone, there have over been 4,500 reported cases of the virus, which has led to 86 known deaths thus far.
For more coronavirus updates, check out the stories and video below.
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