Vaccinated Whoopi Goldberg says COVID-19 experience could have been ‘much worse’
After testing positive for COVID-19, Whoopi Goldberg appeared remotely on Wednesday’s episode of “The View” to update viewers on her isolation situation and urge people to get vaccinated.
“It was a shock because I’m triple-vaccinated, I haven’t been anywhere, I haven’t done anything,” Goldberg said of her diagnosis. “But that’s the thing about the Omicron [variant]. You just don’t know where it is. ... It’s one of those things where you think, ‘I’ve done everything I was supposed to do.’
“Yeah, it doesn’t stop Omicron. And that’s the problem with a variant. ... So unless everybody gets vaccinated, this is what we’re going to be facing,” she added.
The “View” star’s latest remarks come shortly after she missed Monday’s installment of the daytime talk series because of her breakthrough infection. Co-host Joy Behar filled in for her colleague and assured viewers that since Goldberg has been “vaxxed and boosted, her symptoms have been very, very mild.”
With Whoopi out sick, ‘The View’ panelists shared their COVID-related holiday stories. Sunny Hostin got emotional during her touching, scary tale.
On Wednesday, Goldberg said she had already begun to distance herself over the holiday break after she was exposed to someone who tested positive for COVID-19. When Goldberg later got tested in anticipation of returning to “The View,” she said she was told, “You’re not coming back. ... You have corona.”
Since then, she’s been isolating herself in her “very nice house” with her family members, all of whom “have been hiding in their rooms.” As of Wednesday, Goldberg was the only person in her household who was still positive for COVID-19.
“My doors are closed,” she said.
“I’m not allowed to leave this specific area. And every now and then, I just want to kick the door open, and that’s what I do. I just [push] the door open a little bit, and then someone comes out of nowhere and goes, ‘Close the door!’ So I do. ... It could have been much, much, much, much worse, I’m sure. And it wasn’t, and I’m really lucky.”
To pass the time in isolation, Goldberg has been “listening to a lot of books,” “slowly opening Christmas presents” in her room and “eating some really nice food.” Provided she tests negative, she said she aims to make a full return to “The View” by next week. And Behar said she was told Goldberg would be back Monday.
Fellow “View” co-hosts Ana Navarro and Sunny Hostin received false-positive COVID-19 results in September, but on Monday, Hostin revealed that she tested positive for the coronavirus again — for real this time — right before Christmas.
Jimmy Fallon seems to have bounced back from COVID-19, while fellow late-night TV host Seth Meyers pauses his show for the rest of this week.
During Wednesday’s show, Goldberg encouraged the “View” audience once again to get vaccinated, which has proved to be the most effective way of protecting oneself against severe illness caused by COVID-19.
“I don’t know how much more proof people need,” she said. “If you can get vaccinated ... do yourself a favor.”
“I don’t want to be in the house,” she added. “I don’t want to be quarantining in place. But this is what’s best for the many, not just what’s best for the few.”
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