Ryan Seacrest Asks If He Starts a New Year's Eve Countdown ‘Will 2020 Finally Be Over?’

Ryan Seacrest has a suggestion that may help the time pass amid the harrowing coronavirus pandemic.

“If I start a New Year’s Eve countdown, will 2020 finally be over?” Seacrest, 45, wrote on Twitter on Tuesday.

Ending the joke on a more serious note, Seacrest wrote “If that doesn’t work, please practice social distancing until this situation is under control & be kind to those who are on the front lines.”

Seacrest then paid tribute to the “ones keeping our grocery stores open, the doctors, nurses & unsung heroes who are stepping up to help those who can’t help themselves. We are all in this together.”

As of Tuesday, there are now at least 4,482 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the United Sates, PEOPLE previously reported, while 86 people in the U.S. have died from coronavirus-related illness.

Worldwide, there are now 187,990 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 7,484 deaths.

The first cases of a mysterious respiratory illness — what is now known as COVID-19, a form of coronavirus — began in Wuhan, China, in late December. Since then, the virus has spread worldwide, leading the World Health Organization to declare a public health emergency, the first since the zika epidemic in 2016.

At first, this coronavirus was contained to China, but Wuhan is a major transportation hub with hundreds of flights leaving and landing from the city of 11 million each day. Soon, as people flew from the area to different countries, the coronavirus reached more countries, including the United States.

Right now, there are no vaccines that can prevent the transmission of this coronavirus. The CDC recommends that people wash their hands often with soap and water, lathering for at least 20 seconds.

They also say to avoid people who are sick and for people to not touch their face with unwashed hands.

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This week, a number of celebrities have shared their positive diagnoses, including Idris Elba and Frozen 2 star Rachel Matthews.

“This morning I tested positive for COVID-19,” the Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw actor announced on Twitter on March 16. “I feel OK, I have no symptoms so far but have been isolated since I found out about my possible exposure to the virus,” he captioned a video alongside wife Sabrina Dhowre. “Stay home people and be pragmatic. I will keep you updated on how I’m doing 👊🏾👊🏾 No panic.”

He explained in the video that he “got a test immediately” and began to self-quarantine after learning that he was exposed to someone who had tested positive.

“It sucks,” he said, before encouraging fans to take precautions. “Looks, this is serious. Now’s the time to really think about social distancing, washing your hands.”

Also on Monday, Matthews, 26, opened up about the virus and shared a timeline of her symptoms in a series of posts on her Instagram Story, explaining that she “only got tested because I had been around a confirmed case.”

Jon Kopaloff/Getty Ryan Seacrest

“Hey guys, I tested positive for COVID-19 and have been in quarantine the last week,” Matthews, who voiced the role of Honeymaren in the Disney film, wrote.

Matthews then went on to explain her symptoms, writing that on day one, she experienced a “sore throat, fatigue and headache.”

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By day two, the actress shared things took a turn as she had a “mild fever (100.3), horrible body aches, chills, sharp pain in lungs, started a dry cough, no appetite.”

On day three, Matthews said her fever was gone, but she still had “minor body aches.”

She wrote her “lungs got much worse (resulting in deep, dry cough) shortness of breath, major fatigue, no appetite.”