Coronavirus

Coronavirus has folks in heavily populated areas getting outta Dodge ... believing they'll be much safer away from people, isolating in homes on wheels.

It seems RV parks and campsites are the new safe haven for motor home owners fleeing COVID-19. Campground owners and managers in inland states -- like Nevada, Idaho and Wisconsin -- tell us they've seen an influx of folks from pandemic hot zones.

The owner of Devils River Campground in Manitowoc County, WI says they’re closed -- the ground is frozen, there’s no running water and power has been switched off -- but that hasn’t stopped diehards from trying to set up camp there anyway. As they say ... any port in a storm.

The owner tells us one couple from L.A. appeared in the middle of the night last week offering $40 just to hunker down for a night in the parking lot. A Chicago family had the same idea, and even told the owner they picked Manitowoc County because it had no reported coronavirus cases.

Anderson Camp in Eden, Idaho is also filling its RV spaces with folks from “areas that have been hit hard” ... according to the owner.

The same is true at the Canyon Trail RV Park in Boulder City, Nevada. Owner and operator Mike Wells says residents from California and Washington -- 2 of the hardest-hit states -- have accounted for 50 percent of patrons trying to crash on his 13 acres.

Mike says, “It’s been so busy and so many calls are coming in -- it’s like a call center here."

Camila Cabello says she's putting her upcoming world tour on ice before it even begins ... because things just ain't safe out there due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The "Senorita" singer announced Tuesday she's postponing her "Romance" tour, which was set to kick off in May and make stops across Europe and the United States, areas that are being ravaged by the virus.

Camila says she's postponing the tour as an extreme precaution and to protect her fans, team, dancers, band, crew and loved ones.

Concerts and social distancing just don't mix, and Camila says she can't even get her group together to start rehearsing. The singer is hoping to reschedule as soon as possible.

Michael Rapaport's had it up to here politely trying to ask the youth -- and their parents -- to stay indoors ... he's demanding it now, and with some cuss words to spare.

The actor and sports fanatic hopped online Tuesday with a VERY blunt PSA ... except, it ain't anywhere near as calm and collected as some of the others you've seen from your fave celebs over the past few days. Mike's getting nasty, and maybe rightly so.

"GET YOUR F****ING KIDS INSIDE!" -- it's a message to the parents of teens and young adults (probably dumb college kids, mostly) who either still live at home or rely on their parents for dough. In any case, if parents have some authority -- MR wants them to flex it to the fullest extent so their children stop infecting everyone else.

Check out the full 2-and-a-half minute message yourself, 'cause we really can't do it justice. Mike -- never one who's at a loss of words -- finds just the right ones to describe the dummies who disregard social distancing and quarantining ... and insist on partying.

It's kinda crazy -- he says he was asked by the powers that be to do a kosher PSA like most everyone else has been doing ... but he said screw that, and did one that'll resonate and accurately reflect society's outrage. BTW, his message applies to more than the "s**t-stained" kids he's talking to -- anyone screwing around with this outbreak needs to listen up.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is putting his money where his heart his -- dropping a small fortune to help get crucial supplies to doctors and scientists battling the virus.

The ex-Gov of California shared the news Tuesday, telling his followers he'd donated a million bucks to a GoFundMe account called Frontline Responders Fund -- which is run by an organization called Flexport. They specialize in transporting must-have equipment to different causes around the world ... right now, all their efforts are focused on the coronavirus.

Arnold says, "I never believed in sitting on the couch and complaining about how bad things are, I always believed we should all do our part to make things better." He continued, "This is a simple way to protect our real action heroes on the frontlines in our hospitals, and I’m proud to be part of it."

He also encouraged everyone to follow in his footsteps by giving whatever you can "to support these heroes."

As for how exactly the money -- a whopping $3.2 million so far -- is going to be used ... Flexport breaks it down on the GFM page. They say it's a 4-step process: manufacturers make the stuff, trucks take it to airports and ports, cargo planes and ships transport it where it needs to go and then trucks deliver supplies to hospitals and anywhere else they're needed. Delivered items include masks, gloves, surgical gowns and thermometers.

All of that loading and unloading ain't cheap, and Flexport supports and finances companies directly involved in the endeavor. Arnold just made it a whole lot more affordable!

Chris Cornell's widow says Soundgarden doesn't give a rat's ass about her elderly mother, asking her to sit for a deposition despite coronavirus risks ... but the band's attorneys say they've done just the opposite.

Vicky Cornell claims Soundgarden is ignoring the dangers of the virus -- especially among the elderly -- because they're making a push to get Vicky's mom to sit for a proper grilling by their attorneys.

In docs, obtained by TMZ, Vicky claims Soundgarden is "callously insisting on the immediate deposition" of Vicky's mother who is "an elderly, at-risk individual." What's more ... Vicky's accusing Soundgarden of taking advantage of the pandemic by refusing to play nice on any of the deadlines in the case.

She says, for example, Soundgarden has "leveraged the COVID-19 epidemic for vexatious ends." Soundgarden, however, claims it's been willing to make accommodations.

An attorney for the band tells TMZ ... they have made it very clear to Vicky and her legal team they are willing to do the deposition at her home, or at Vicky's attorney's office ... or even through a video conference to help minimize any risks associated.

This is the latest volley in Vicky's ongoing war with Soundgarden over who owns the final songs Chris wrote, and also for allegedly unpaid royalties.

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to wreak havoc on the world, a cruise ship company continues to get hit with lawsuits ... 3 more former passengers are the most recent plaintiffs.

According to new legal docs ... Jeffrey and Anabel Jones, along with Eddy Castellanos, want at least $1 million in damages, claiming Princess Cruise Lines was grossly negligent in allowing them to travel on the Grand Princess cruise ship when it allegedly knew there would be coronavirus exposure.

A significant part of their argument -- according to the suit -- is what happened on another PCL cruise ship ... the Diamond Princess. As you'll recall, the Diamond was quarantined off the coast of Japan due to coronavirus concerns BEFORE the Grand set sail from San Fran and was quarantined in the Bay Area waters for a week.

The 3 passengers claim PCL should have handled the situation better based on what happened with the Diamond, but instead ... they botched it.

Furthermore, the defendants claim an email was sent to former PCL passengers on February 25 to inform them of the risk of coronavirus ... but the defendants say they received no such email. They claim if they had gotten word of it, they would have disembarked from the cruise at the next stop in Honolulu.

Also, just like in the suit first filed by Ronald and Eva Weissberger on March 9, the new suit alleges the ship's staff KNEW at least 2 other passengers with coronavirus had just disembarked from a previous voyage. Despite this, there was no testing done and the screening process was totally insufficient.

Van Jones says there's an urgent matter to address related to the coronavirus pandemic -- protecting prisoners from it ... in order to protect society as a whole.

The Reform Alliance CEO told us Tuesday on "TMZ Live" ... COVID-19 hitting the prison systems would be a catastrophe, but President Trump and the federal government have the power and opportunity to nip it in the bud.

Van says the First Step Act -- which Trump signed into law in December 2018 -- allows for "compassionate release" of qualifying prisoners ... meaning low-level and non-violent offenders. In this case, that could include older, ailing prisoners more at-risk of contracting COVID-19.

He wants these inmates released ASAP -- before they contract the virus -- so they can go into home confinement and help slow the spread.

Van says this would be huge in controlling coronavirus in prisons, where inmates are unable to practice social distancing or even use hand sanitizers. No alcohol allowed. He adds, this is best for the protection of guards and other prison staffers, too.

Bottom line ... he says the Prez should make "compassionate release" a priority because prison can quickly become a "petri dish" for the virus.

Rob Gronkowski has a lot to smile about during the coronavirus pandemic ... the retired NFL superstar's teeth whitening business has seen a MASSIVE increase in sales ... and now he's paying it forward.

TMZ Sports has learned ... Snow -- which is part-owned by Gronk and UFC legend Chuck Liddell -- has been inundated with orders for the teeth whitening kits since the outbreak.

Josh Elizetxe tells us sales have increased by 240% and the orders are still coming in strong  -- most likely due to an influx in video chatting while people work from home.

"We are shipping around the clock from Arizona to our customers’ doorsteps to help them feel more confident for those video calls and social distance selfies," Elizetxe tells us.

But, all the profits ain't going to line pockets -- Snow has decided to donate proceeds to help smaller businesses survive during the pandemic.

Gronk tells us ... "I'm excited that we as a company have decided to donate proceeds from every order on TrySnow.com to small businesses across America affected by COVID-19."

Two airline pilots in Southeast Asia abandoned airship after hearing they had potential coronavirus-infected passengers aboard -- and their escape is bonkers.

The video, shot Friday, shows the AirAsia pilots -- moments after they landed in New Dehli, India -- popping out of the cockpit window and getting down to the tarmac that way ... rather than go through the cabin with the rest of the crew and passengers. The reason for their hasty, and awkward, retreat -- there was a rumor they had a couple sneezy travelers.

Check it out ... one pilot opens up a hatch and slithers through, safely making his way onto the airstairs before helping his buddy out. They were acting pretty caj about it, but c'mon ... this ain't normal.

Apparently, word started circulating mid-flight about suspected cases of COVID-19 in the first row -- so it looks like the pilots didn't wanna chance being anywhere near those seats. As it turns out, nobody was actually infected -- AirAsia says the passengers were screened and tested negative. The plane was fumigated and cleansed too.

Still though ... better safe than sorry.

Olympic pole-vaulter Alysha Newman says there's a silver lining to the coronavirus pandemic -- yeah, it sucks that the Games are postponed, but it's uniting the world like never before.

The 25-year-old Canadian -- who competed at the '16 Games -- had been hardcore training for Tokyo 2020 until COVID-19 stopped the sports world in its tracks.

But Newman says she's trying to focus on the positive -- and spelled it out to TMZ Sports.

"I'm going to get a whole other year of training and competition under my belt. Another year of growth as a person," Newman says.

"For me, it's been extremely humbling. For me, there is no wealth, no race, no religion, no 'who you know' that can get you on the other side of it. It's literally an entire world coming together and doing the right thing so we can go back to living reality."

"I've never seen that since I have been living. I'm 25 years old, I have never seen an entire world come together and really, really do what we can ... because it's us. Literally the world against this coronavirus and we have to remember that."

Greta Thunberg -- the 17-year-old climate activist -- says she spent the last 10 days in isolation after coming down with what she believes is COVID-19.

Yeah, listen up young people ... this is important.

Thunberg says she started to feel symptoms -- fatigue, shivers, sore throat and cough -- when she returned to Sweden from a trip around Central Europe roughly 2 weeks ago. Her father, who also traveled with her, had similar symptoms but "much more intense."

In Sweden, Greta says, people are not allowed to test for coronavirus unless they need emergency medical treatment -- so instead of clogging up the healthcare system, she self-isolated instead "in a borrowed apartment away from my mother and sister."

"I have therefore not been tested for COVID-19, but it’s extremely likely that I’ve had it, given the combined symptoms and circumstances."

The good news ... Greta says she's "basically recovered" but she's sending a strong message to young people -- warning them to TAKE EXTREME PRECAUTIONS so they don't infect someone else who might not handle it as well.

"THIS IS THE BOTTOM LINE: I almost didn’t feel ill. My last cold was much worse than this! Had it not been for someone else having the virus simultaneously I might not even have suspected anything."

"We who don’t belong to a risk group have an enormous responsibility, our actions can be the difference between life and death for many others."

Ben Affleck will tell ya, if he's gonna risk it all ... his new GF, Ana de Armas, is definitely worth it -- hence the couple venturing out together with her pooch.

You can tell Ana and Ben got that new love thing going -- 'cause they were all smiles while out walking the dog Monday afternoon in Los Angeles. They were laughing it up ... finding some momentary joy during the pandemic.

It's true, they're not practicing very good social distancing -- but this could also be a tell-tale sign they're quarantining together. Talk about some getting-to-know-you time!!!

One thing's for sure ... Ben and Ana -- who met on the set of the film, "Deep Water" -- can't get enough of each other. As we've reported ... they were first spotted hanging out in Ana's native country of Cuba.

Not long after, they were all over each other again ... this time Ben playing the perfect Instagram BF role in Costa Rica.

Turns out he's a great dog-walking companion too!

Harvey Weinstein says the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic is seriously complicating one of his many legal matters, so he's begging a judge for more time.

According to a new legal doc -- obtained by TMZ -- Weinstein wants a 2-month extension for discovery in a civil case ... specifically, "due to the current coronavirus crisis." The now-convicted rapist is being sued for sexual assault by actress Wedil David.

It's interesting ... Weinstein's lawyer, Imran Ansari, spells out several reasons why the disgraced movie mogul can't meet the court's deadline -- his recent conviction in his NY rape case, his pending criminal case in L.A. and his rapidly declining health and medical problems -- but does NOT confirm the recent news that Weinstein tested positive for coronavirus.

In fact, Weinstein's attorney says he wouldn't even confirm a COVID-19 diagnosis to opposing counsel out of respect for his privacy rights. However, TMZ has confirmed he's one of 2 inmates to test positive at Wende Correctional Facility in New York.

Even more interesting -- the legal doc refers to Weinstein as an "at-risk individual" and argues the events of the last month have been a "perfect storm" for him ... and the coronavirus pandemic as a whole, warrants an extension of a deadline in his civil case to May 15.

The judge has yet to rule on the motion.

Conor McGregor just made a VERY passionate plea to the country of Ireland -- demanding they go into '"full lockdown" ASAP to protect themselves against COVID-19.

You gotta watch the clip ... the UFC superstar is HEATED -- saying straight-up, "True lockdown must begin, and it must begin now!!!"

McGregor shouted out the leaders of his country -- from the President on down -- saying, "While we are currently debating a full lockdown, I feel that we must! Any time spent debating this is needless time from the clock."

So far, at least 6 people have died from coronavirus in Ireland -- and more than 1,000 people have tested positive. Conor clearly believes the country needs to stop the spread.

Conor points to other countries that have seen success from quarantine -- and urges his people to take the threat seriously.

"Let's get it together and ring the bell ourselves," Conor says.

McGregor calls for the country to shut down everything from airports to non-essential businesses -- "along with stricter adherence to social distancing, must be put in place now!"

"We have the advantage here in that we can see this coming!"