On March 19, 2020, during the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic, Prine's wife Fiona revealed that she had tested positive for the COVID-19 virus and had been quarantined in her home apart from him.[27] He was hospitalized on March 26 after experiencing symptoms. He was intubated on the evening of March 28 in critical condition.[28] On March 30, Fiona tweeted that she had recovered, and that John was in stable condition but not improving.[29][30] On April 3, she announced that he was in his eighth day in ICU and that he was still on a ventilator and needed quite a bit of help with his breathing. He had pneumonia in both lungs and had also developed some peripheral issues that were being treated with medications including antibiotics.[31] John Prine died on April 7, 2020.[32]