Speaking out. Hours after two guest hosts were removed from the Friday, September 24, episode of The View amid positive COVID-19 tests, Ana Navarro has spoken out about how’s doing.
“I’m feeling great,” Navarro, 49, said during a virtual interview on Anderson Cooper 360 on Friday. “First, I want to say thank you to all the well-wishers. There’s been so many people on social media wishing us well and we’re doing great.”
The Florida resident and Sunny Hostin were whisked offstage just moments before Vice President Kamala Harris was set to join the View table for her first in-studio talk show appearance since her January swearing-in.
“I also want to thank the Vice President’s office, Kamala Harris herself, her team,” Navarro added during the CNN interview. “I want to thank the Secret Service, they were all great, and the team at The View. It takes so much work to do an interview like this, and it’s something we were excited about. We were prepared to ask some tough questions. We were very proud to have the Vice President come on The View, and then, all of a sudden it turned into, like, an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm.”
Navarro revealed to Anderson Cooper that she’s tested weekly ahead of each appearance on the daytime show, as are her fellow hosts. She further explained the network’s safety precautions, including weekly testing before entering the building, limiting staff members on the set and wearing masks. She and the 54-year-old Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty author then rewatched the now-viral clip of the two women being removed from the show, just moments after they learned of their positive tests.
“This is in the middle of live TV,” she explained. “As you know, Anderson, the show must go on.”
At the time, the duo was sent backstage — Harris was in a separate waiting area before her segment — as the show continued. The guest hosts waited on further test results from their dressing rooms, which indicated that Navarro’s initial test was a false positive. She does not have COVID-19 after all.
During the Friday episode, Joy Behar, Sara Haines, Hostin, 52, and Navarro were preparing to introduce the former California senator, 56, on the show before executive producer Brian Teta interrupted the broadcast.
“I have to ask the two of you to step off for a second,” he said at the time, before Behar, 78, asked if she should “introduce the vice president.” Production initially told her “yes” before saying “no.”
“Shall we dance?” Behar asked, trying to fill time. “There seems to be something happening here that I’m not 100 percent aware of. Can someone please apprise me of the situation?”
She continued at the time, “Since this is going to be a major news story any minute now, what happened is that Sonny and Ana both apparently tested positive for COVID. No matter how hard we try, these things happen. They probably have a breakthrough case and they’ll be OK, I’m sure, because they’re both vaccinated up the wazoo. A lot of vaccines.”
Harris later appeared on the show remotely from a separate room in the ABC building.
“Thank you, Joy and to everyone,” the politician noted during the show. “Listen, Sunny and Ana are strong women and I know they’re fine, but it really also does speak to the fact that they’re vaccinated and vaccines really make all the difference because otherwise we would be concerned about hospitalization and worse.”
