‘The Walking Dead’ Actor Daniel Newman Reveals Hospital Charged Him $9K But Didn’t Give Him Coronavirus Test Results

The Walking Dead actor Daniel Newman is speaking out about his difficult journey after he came into contact with someone who tested positive for the novel coronavirus. In a Saturday Instagram post, the actor, who portrayed a character named Daniel, a soldier at The Kingdom, on 10 episodes of the AMC post-apocalyptic drama, said that he had to spend $9,116 for a coronavirus test, though the hospital never gave him the results.

“Thanks for all the concern! I guess a lot of [Walking Dead] fans saw me in the emergency room regarding [coronavirus]. Sorry I didn’t reply I needed time to process,” Newman began. “So here’s what happened. Yes I was just in Australia with Sam Smith, Dua Lipa, and thousands of people from around the world for Mardi Gras Pride. I was exposed to some sick people and I started developing symptoms and then back in the states I was notified someone in our group tested positive for [COVID-19].”

Newman explained that he had spent hours “calling every urgent care and hospital” trying to find a place to get tested, though none of them had any tests, though he finally found an emergency that confirmed that his “symptoms match and to come in immediately.”

“I did all the tests and they told me because I have ‘mild symptoms’ the government won’t allow them to process my tests!” he continued. “They don’t have enough they’re not prepared, even though all my symptoms match. They’re only allowed to process ‘severe symptoms, elderly, or people recently in Italy and China.’ It cost me $9,116!! and they didn’t even give me results.”

The actor said that he was sent home along with “tons of other ill people that could potentially infect their communities, just telling us to ‘self Quarantine.’”

“Why after almost 3 months since China is our country not prepared with tests, masks, hand sanitizer, toilet paper! Why after one day of shaky stock markets did they invest 1.5 trillion into the markets, but not the Healthcare system after three months!” he wrote. “This was not a surprise, this was not being prepared. We’ve already gone through [H1N1] [SARS] why didn’t we have a pandemic unit ready when this happens every few years!?”

Newman ended his post by asking his followers to “treat each other with kindness and love” because “we are all going through this together.”

“Young people are not immune, thousands of people are dying around the world,” he warned. “Please be safe, wash your hands, stay 6 feet or more away from people and stay home. I love you guys so much you can get a hold of me on here or Twitter if you need to talk I’m here for you.”