“The View” came back this week, but moderator Whoopi Goldberg was notably absent and none of the co-hosts were meeting in person. This was due to a coronavirus outbreak that left Goldberg calling in sick for a few days to recover. On Tuesday, the famous comedian was back, and expressed shock that she contracted the virus after doing everything she was “supposed to do” to stay safe.
Goldberg joined her co-workers on a video call from home while wearing a shirt that said, “Over It.”
“I left a couple of weeks ago, just before the break, because somebody I had been around tested positive for coronavirus, so I left,” the 66-year-old Goldberg said. “So I’ve been gone a long time, I feel.”
The “Sister Act” alum said she’d been extra careful, plus was vaccinated and boosted to increase her chances of not getting sick.
“I was all excited and, you know, they have to test us, and so they sent people to test me, and they tested me, and it was like, ‘Oh no, you’re not coming back. We’re not sending anybody to your house. You have corona.’ And it was like, ‘Wait, what?’” she continued.
Goldberg went on to say “it was a shock” to receive the diagnosis considering that she’s “triple-vaxxed” and had not “been anywhere or done anything” beyond what was absolutely necessary.
“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,” Goldberg continued. “It’s one of those things where you think, ‘I’ve done everything I was supposed to do.’”
The “View” co-host went on to muse on how COVID-19 won’t end until more people are vaccinated and boosted.
“Yeah, it doesn’t stop Omicron, and that’s the problem with a variant, because it gets stronger and does different stuff to you. So, you know, unless everybody gets vaccinated, this is what we’re going to be facing for the next, you know, little while,” she said.
She continued, calling herself “lucky” for having a mild case of COVID-19 in comparison to others.
“You can only do what you can do, and whatever your body decides it’s going to do is what you have to roll with,” Goldberg concluded. “It could have been much, much worse, I’m sure, and it wasn’t. I’m really lucky.”
The moderator explained she’ll be back to work on Monday.
Just a few weeks ago, the “View” hosts disagreed with guest Jedidiah Bila for saying coronavirus could spread regardless of vaccination status.
Bila was discussing how she disagreed with vaccine mandates and then said that the existing COVID-19 vaccine “does not prevent you from getting COVID and does not prevent you from transmitting COVID.”
“Oh my goodness!” Joy Behar replied. “No, that’s not so. You’ve been at Fox TV too long,” which made the audience applaud.
After the appearance, Bila posted a clip of CDC director Rochelle Walensky acknowledging that “breakthrough infections” of COVID-19 for fully vaccinated people are possible.