Whoopi Goldberg Gives An Update About Her COVID Diagnosis

With the Omicron variant of the coronavirus spreading like wildfire through the U.S., the world of live television has certainly not been immune to its effects. On January 3, Joy Behar revealed that her "The View" co-host Whoopi Goldberg tested positive for the virus. However, Behar predicted at the time that Goldberg should be back in the moderator's seat in a week, "since she's vaxxed and boosted her symptoms have been very very mild." Additionally, co-host Sunny Hostin tested positive for the virus as well, per Decider, forcing the show's four permanent hosts and guest host Ana Navarro to perform their jobs from home the entire week of January 3rd.

Goldberg and Hostin were hardly the only talk show victims of COVID-19 in the new year. Just as he was set to return from the holiday break, Seth Meyers tweeted on January 4 that he tested positive for the virus but was recovering well. Fellow NBC late-night host Jimmy Fallon had shared just a day prior on Instagram that he was still recovering from contracting the virus during the holidays and did test negative before returning to "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" on January 3. (His on-set Instagram photo showed him masked and isolated in a room by himself.) 

On January 5, Goldberg's co-hosts thoughtfully checked in on her health status via video call. How has the Hollywood veteran been holding up since her diagnosis? 

In a makeshift January 5 segment titled "CHECKING IN WITH WHOOPI," the ladies of "The View" updated fans on Whoopi Goldberg's recovery from COVID-19. Joined by co-hosts Joy Behar, Sunny Hostin, Sara Haines and guest hosts Yvette Nicole Brown and Ana Navarro virtually, Goldberg offered some anecdotes and insights from recovery. "It was a shock 'cause I'm triple-vaxxed," Goldberg said of her reaction to testing positive. Her surprise diagnosis prompted her to issue her viewers the cautionary reminder that "that's the problem with the variant. It gets stronger and does different stuff to you."

Behar noted that Goldberg's COVID-19 case was particularly alarming as Goldberg had a bout of pneumonia in 2019, during which doctors told her she had a "one-in-three" chance of dying. With an admirably Zen attitude, Goldberg told Behar she didn't overthink having the two diseases almost back-to-back, saying, "No, because I just feel like you can only do what you can do. And whatever your body decides it's gonna do is what you have to roll with."

As for being in self-quarantine, Goldberg has been "listening to a lot of books" and "eating some really nice food." Unfortunately, being self-isolated away from her own family in the same house did restrict Goldberg's diet somewhat. In true Goldberg fashion, the comedian joked that being "a little bit hungry" was probably for the best, given "all that stuff that I worked off, I have now worked back on."