Steven Avery, the focus of the hit Netflix docuseries Making a Murderer which helped boost the true crime genre on the streaming service, has tested positive for the novel coronavirus COVID-19.
Despite testing positive, Avery’s symptoms were “short-lived” and he is in “good spirits,” according to his former criminal defense attorney Jerome Buting.
Avery’s new lawyer, Kathleen Zellner, said that Avery is expected to make a full recovery and a new appeal of his conviction is underway.
“It is true that Steven Avery has tested positive for the COVID-19 virus —he will fully recover,” Zellner tweeted. “The bigger threat to him is whether the COA [Court of Appeals] will cure the disease that caused him to be wrongfully convicted.”
The 57-year-old Avery is currently serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole for the murder of Teresa Halbach in 2005. The case — which many believe Avery and his nephew Brendan Dassey were wrongfully convicted of — was the focus of Making a Murderer which has two seasons available to stream on Netflix.
The coronavirus mainly comes from animals and a majority of those who were infected early either worked at or frequently visited the Huanan seafood wholesale market in Wuhan, according to The Guardian. The virus is similar to Severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) and Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome (Mers).
The Wuhan coronavirus is transmitted from person to person through “droplet transmission.” That means an infected person can pass the virus by sneezing or coughing on another person as well as by direct contact.
While a majority of the cases have been detected in the United States and China — with more than 100,000 deaths in the United States — it has now reached many countries around the world. It has also been confirmed in Italy, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, and many other eastern countries.
