Vaccinated and boosted Today host Savannah Guthrie has revealed she has COVID, just days after her co-anchor Hoda Kotb announced that she ...
Vaccinated and boosted Today host Savannah Guthrie has revealed she has COVID, just days after her co-anchor Hoda Kotb announced that she had tested positive for the coronavirus.
The 50-year-old shared the news of her positive test at the top of Monday's morning show, which she joined via live video feed from her home in New York, where she is currently isolating.
Speaking to her co-host Kotb, 57, who returned to the studio this morning after receiving two negative tests, having been absent from the show on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, Guthrie joked that the pair had 'traded places', before assuring viewers that she is doing well and is only suffering from 'a little sniffles'.
'Here we go Hoda, we're trading places,' the mother-of-two said. 'I'm working from home, you're back in the studio. You have a negative test for COVID, I just tested positive for COVID, so here we go.'
Guthrie - who received her first dose of the COVID vaccine live on the Today show in April - added that her symptoms are very mild, saying that she has 'a little sniffles, not much more than that'.
Today anchor Savannah Guthrie has revealed that she has COVID and is currently isolating in her New York home - while continuing to broadcast remotely
The 50-year-old's positive test result comes just days after her co-host, Hoda Kotb, 57, announced that she had COVID
Guthrie assured viewers that she is 'feeling good', noting that she just has 'a little sniffles'
Kotb described the scenario as a 'flashback' to 2020, noting that she and Guthrie are like 'a ton of the country', which recorded one million new cases in a single day last Monday, setting a new global record.
However on Sunday, that number took a sharp downturn, with just 305,100 new cases recorded in comparison with the 900,000 new cases that were reported on Saturday.
'I feel like we're like a ton of the country,' Kotb told her co-host. 'This is so weird, I'm having a flashback to 2020. I got two negative tests so I'm back in my seat and I know that your negative test will come quickly.
'Here's to happy healing.'
It is not known whether any other Today anchors have tested positive for COVID - nor did Guthrie share whether her children - daughter Vale, seven, and son Charley, five - or her husband Mike Feldman, 53, have been diagnosed with the virus.
Guthrie also did not confirm when she received her positive test, however she did take to Instagram to share a behind-the-scenes look at her at-home filming set-up, once again reassuring her fans about her mild symptoms.
'Trading places with @hodakotb!' she wrote, while sharing a photo of herself and Kotb sharing a screen together.
'She is back in studio and is now negative, and now I just tested [positive] for covid! So working from home a few days. Feel good, just a few sniffles!'
Kotb meanwhile was able to share some much brighter news with her Instagram followers on Monday morning, when she posted a video of herself getting ready for the show in her dressing room, announcing that she was ready to get 'back in the saddle'.
'Ok, two negative tests... back in the saddle!' she said. 'Time to fix the 'do and find something to wear. See you on TV!'
The mother-of-two shared a behind-the-scenes look at her at-home filming set-up on Instagram on Monday morning, assuring viewers that she is 'feeling good'
Meanwhile Kotb shared a video of herself in her dressing room at the NBC studios, explaining that she had received two negative tests and was ready to get 'back in the saddle'
Craig Melvin shared the news of the anchor's positive test result on Thursday as Kotb was absent from the show for the second day in a row, sparking questions from viewers about her whereabouts.
Melvin answered those queries when he informed viewers about the mother-of-two's breakthrough COVID case - adding that she is 'doing just fine'.
Guthrie is fully vaccinated and boosted - having received her first shot of the COVID jab live on-air back in April
'We should mention here before we get to the news, the reason Hoda is off, like many others, she tested positive for COVID,' he announced on Thursday's show.
'But Hoda tells us she is doing just fine and we look forward to having her back very, very soon.'
After the news of her COVID case was shared on-air, Kotb herself took to Twitter to thank fans for their 'well wishes', revealing that she is 'feeling good' and that she 'can't wait' to return to the studio 'when she is in the clear'.
The Today anchor's positive test result came after she spent the holiday season at home with her two adopted daughters, Haley Joy, four, and Hope Catherine, two, her fiance Joel Schiffman, her mother Sameha, and her sister Hala.
Kotb revealed on Instagram on March 31, 2021 that she had received her first dose of the COVID vaccine; she got her second dose on April 28.
Shortly before getting her first shot, the Today anchor spoke to People about her desire to get vaccinated, explaining that she wanted to protect not only herself but her family members and the public.
On Thursday, it was revealed that Kotb (seen last Tuesday) had tested positive for COVID and was isolating at home, however she revealed on Monday that she received two negative tests
Kotb, who is fully vaccinated and boosted, took to Twitter to assure viewers that she was 'feeling good' after news of her positive test was announced on the show
Kotb last appeared on the show on Tuesday, when she filmed live in the studio. At the time, she gave no indication that she was feeling unwell, however she missed filming on Wednesday
'This is who I'm getting vaccinated for when it's my turn: First, for my mother, who's in her 80s; for my fiancé, Joel; for my two children, and for every single person who I pass by, who I walk by and who I see,' she said.
'So I am getting vaccinated not only for my family, but for yours too.'
The US recorded 305,100 new cases of COVID-19 and 330 deaths on Sunday - a sharp drop from the 900,000 new cases and 2,615 deaths that were reported on Saturday.
The TV host received her first shot of the COVID vaccine on March 31, 2021
But the lower numbers in that analysis of Johns Hopkins University figures by DailyMail.com are believed to be due to a lag in reporting, rather than a significant improvement in the situation.
In total, as of Sunday, the United States has seen 60 million cases since the COVID pandemic first began two years ago, with 900,000 deaths.
The surge in cases has led to a nationwide shortage in available staff members to handle business and services, with 5 million people serving in police and fire departments calling out sick.
Many experts have said the infection rate will continue to increase for the next few weeks before the Omicron surge peaks later this month, with National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease director Dr. Anthony Fauci saying on Friday that the US will likely record more than 1 million cases daily on a regular basis in coming weeks.
'It's still surging upward... I would not be surprised at all if we go over a million cases per day,' he told WNBC-TV.
'I would hope that by the time we get to the fourth week in January -- end of the third week, beginning of the fourth week – that we will start see this coming down.'
Mother-of-two Kotb spent the holidays at home with her adopted daughters Haley Joy and Hope Catherine, fiance Joel Schiffman, mother Sameha, and sister Hala
Kotb and Schiffman spent New Year's Eve at home with their daughters; it is not known whether any of the Today host's family members have tested positive
By the end of the year, a former member of Biden's Transition COVID Advisory Board said on Sunday, the COVID pandemic could even become endemic, meaning diagnoses numbers would become stable and predictable.
'I would say we're not yet in the endemic stage. We're still in the pandemic stage,' Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel told NBC host Chuck Todd, during a panel discussion on Sunday's Meet the Press.
'If you've got 1,500 people a dying from this disease it's still a pandemic and Omicron is spreading.'
But, he continued: 'We think that over the course of 2022, we will get to an endemic stage - and the plan is - or the proposal is - we need a strategic plan for that, that covers vaccines, getting more people vaccinated, and the only way to do that, as we've been very clear over time, is mandates.'
Emanuel said that about 60 per cent of Americans voluntarily received a COVID vaccine, but the numbers increased once workplace and jurisdictional vaccine mandates were instituted.
As of Sunday, more than 74 per cent of all Americans have received at least one dose of the COVID vaccine and 62.5 per cent are fully vaccinated.
Emanuel also said on Sunday that new treatments and other mitigation measures will also play a role in helping the virus become more manageable, noting: 'We need to improve our ventilation system. We need to get more therapies and get the link between a positive test and getting therapy much closer so you can actually start in three days and not only the rich and well-off get it.
'Those are kinds of things we need to put in place over the next three months to be prepared when COVID is really just in the air, like RSV - another respiratory virus, like influenza, like adenovirus, all the respiratory viruses.
'It's going to be here,' he continued. 'We're going to learn to live with it.'
His comments come as health officials in the UK reported that cases decreased 6.7 per cent on Sunday to 141,472 new cases, and COVID hospitalizations in London, which has been ravaged in recent weeks by the Omicron surge, has decreased 31 per cent to 310 on January 6 - the latest date regional data is available for.
UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) figures from Saturday also show there were 146,390 new positive tests over the past 24 hours, down 18.5 per cent on the previous week's figure of 179,637.
That marked the biggest week-on-week fall since the start of November, well before the mutant strain sent cases soaring across the country.
But the number of people dying with the virus, however, rose 32.9 per cent in the UK, with 97 deaths reported on Sunday, compared to 73 reported one week prior.
It marked the biggest week-on-week fall since the start of November, well before the mutant strain sent cases soaring across the country.
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