“The View” is kicking off the new year without Whoopi Goldberg — at least for a little bit. On Monday’s episode, host Joy Behar announced that her co-host will be absent from the show this week, after testing positive for COVID over the holiday.
“Well, Whoopi, unfortunately, tested positive over the break,” Behar revealed at the top of the show. “But she’ll be back, probably next week. But since she’s vaxxed and boosted, her symptoms have been very, very mild, but we’re being super cautious here at ‘The View.’”
Indeed, in the name of being cautious, for the first week of episodes in 2022, the panel of women will do the show from home, as they did for much of 2021. Behar said she hopes it won’t extend longer than that.
Host Sunny Hostin also revealed that she tested positive for COVID as well over the holiday break, but has since recovered.
Goldberg was briefly absent from “The View” in December, missing two shows after being exposed to COVID (though the moderator tested negative at the time).
In Goldberg’s absence this week, Ana Navarro will be sitting in on the panel, and Behar promised they would “be checking with her soon.”