Whoopi Goldberg Gives COVID Status Update on ‘The View’: “We’re All Over It”

The View has had a wild first week of 2022, but thankfully, some semblance of normalcy was returned today when longtime moderator Whoopi Goldberg checked in with the panel. Only two permanent hosts remain on the talk show at the moment, Joy Behar and Sunny Hostin, who are both safe from COVID for the time being. Sara Haines is taking a break after coming in close contact with COVID, and Goldberg is out with the illness, set to return at the beginning of next week.

That didn’t stop her from rearing her head on today’s episode, though. To brighten her spirits and give the world an update on her COVID case, Behar, Hostin, and guests Ana Navarro and Yvette Nicole Brown touched base with Goldberg via virtual video chat. Donning an apt shirt that read “OVER IT,” the co-host shared her COVID experience.

“I left [The View] a couple of weeks ago, just before the break because somebody I had been around tested positive for coronavirus,” she explained. “I’ve been gone a long time, I feel.”

Although Goldberg was “all excited” to return after the holiday hiatus, representatives sent to test her confirmed that she had COVID and could not come to ABC’s studios.

“It was like, ‘Wait, what?'” Goldberg recalls. “It was a shock, because I’m triple-vaxxed, I haven’t been anywhere, I haven’t done anything. But that’s the thing about the Omicron: you just don’t know where it is. You don’t know where it is, who’s got it, who’s passing it. It’s one of those things where you think, ‘I’ve done everything that I’m supposed to do.’ It doesn’t stop Omicron.”

Even with the disease, Goldberg was happy to report she felt confident about recovery and low transmission rates thanks to the CDC guidances and ABC’s safety protocols.

“Everybody has protocols. The CDC has protocols, ABC has protocols, CBS has protocols. Everybody’s got a protocol! None of them are convenient in your own mind, but the truth of the matter is that they’re really important. You don’t want to walk in with this to anybody,” Goldberg said, following with a confident: “You don’t want it.”

She then offered up some advice: stay home. Even though Goldberg is living with her family, she says that they’ve all been “hiding” away from her as to not get the disease. Thankfully, everyone in her surroundings has continued to test negative. Further advice Goldberg had for The View watchers? Get vaccinated!

“You can say it ’till you’re blue in the face, and the idea is that you keep saying it. I don’t know how much more proof people need to see that the vaccination, while it does not necessarily stop it from happening again, it is not happening at the same rate that it was happening,” she said. “Do yourself a favor.”

She continued: “I don’t know anybody that doesn’t know somebody whose got it or has just gotten over it. That is not a good sign. The great thing to remember is COVID and Omicron don’t care about your politics. They don’t care about how much money you’ve got — they don’t care.”

The View is currently taking place in isolation, but Goldberg says she’s still planning on returning to the show by next week — hopefully by Monday’s (Jan. 10) episode.

“I’m here. I think maybe in a week I can come back, and that’d be great. I’ll be free and clear and hopefully as much fun. Let me just say, it’s nice to see you all!” Goldberg said. “Remember: we’re all over it.”

Scroll up to watch the full segment in the video above. The View airs weekdays on ABC at 11/10c.

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