Popular Fox News host Neil Cavuto caught COVID-19 for a second time, and he said this week it nearly killed him.
Cavuto, who is fully vaccinated and is immunocompromised, having survived a bout of cancer, first contracted the virus in October. He revealed on Monday he caught the virus again and he got so sick he was hospitalized for weeks.
His latest illness was of what he called a “far, far more serious strand,” adding that his “very compromised immune system” did not build antibodies for the virus the same way a healthy person’s would have.
That, he said, led to him contracting pneumonia and landed him “in intensive care for quite a while.”
“It was really touch and go,” Cavuto said Monday on his Fox Business show. “Some of you who’ve wanted to put me out of my misery darn near got what you wished for! So sorry to disappoint you!” he joked.
Cavuto also used his forum to urge people to get vaccinated against the virus. “Let me be clear: Doctors say had I not been vaccinated at all, I wouldn’t be here,” Cavuto said.
“This was scary. How scary? I’m talking, ‘Ponderosa suddenly out of the prime rib in the middle of the buffet line scary!’ That’s how scary,” he said, referring to a recent brawl that took place in the Midwest after the steak restaurant ran out of meat.
After weeks of unexplained absence, Cavuto thanked all of his colleagues who filled in for him as host.
Neil is back! pic.twitter.com/WgDJm0OU5Z
— Neil Cavuto (@TeamCavuto) February 21, 2022
Here’s what Cavuto said to open his show: “So tell the truth a lot of you didn’t think you would see this day, did you? And now you’re relieved. I bet even overjoyed probably pinching yourself, aren’t you?”
He said many viewers had postulated theories about his absence, citing a few and noting Fox didn’t mention why he was gone because “they were honoring my wishes out of respect for my privacy, even though they were getting a lot of heat trying to protect my privacy.”
“It wasn’t really hiding anything. I just felt that I wasn’t the story,” he said. “It’s about you. It’s not about me, just like this show. My opinions don’t matter. You matter. The news matters. But this did drag on a long time for me. So you really do deserve an explanation from me.”
“I did get COVID again, but a far, far more serious strand, what doctors called COVID pneumonia. It landed me in intensive care for quite a while and it really was touching some of you wanted to put the out of my misery darn near got what you wished for. So sorry to disappoint you, but no, the vaccine didn’t cause that. That grassy knoll theory has come up a lot,” Cavuto said. “My very compromised immune system did because I’ve had cancer and right now I have multiple sclerosis. I am among the vulnerable three percenters, or some of the population that cannot sustain the full benefits of a vaccine. In other words, it simply doesn’t last.”
“But let me be clear, doctors say had I not been vaccinated at all, I wouldn’t be here. It provided some defense but that is still better than no defense. Maybe not great comfort for some of you and frankly not great comfort for me, either,” he added.
“No matter,” he said. “I’m not here to debate vaccinations for you just to offer an explanation for me. I knew that. I didn’t want to become the story, but for many of you I did. So now you know the story. Time to get back to far more important matters. And now I will.”
Joseph Curl has covered politics for 35 years, including 12 years as White House correspondent, and ran the Drudge Report from 2010 to 2015. Send tips to [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @josephcurl.
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