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Two hosts of ABC’s “The View” tested positive for Covid-19 on Friday moments before a sit-down interview with Vice President Kamala Harris.
Host Sunny Hostin and guest host Ana Navarro are fully vaccinated and contracted breakthrough cases of the virus, co-host Joy Behar announced on air after they were ushered off the set and the program went to an impromptu commercial break.
Harris, who had flown to New York Friday morning, did not make contact with the hosts prior to the show, a White House official told NBC News. She conducted her interview remotely in a different ABC studio.
“No matter how hard we try, these things happen,” Behar said on air. “They’ll be OK, I’m sure, because they’re both vaccinated up the wazoo.”
Harris eventually appeared in a virtual interview with Behar at around 11:50 a.m. ET after being expected to appear at the top of the show.
“I hope you are in a safe spot right now. We did everything we could to make sure that you were safe because we value you so much,” Behar said, introducing the vice president.
Harris, in response, called the two hosts “strong women” and lauded Covid vaccines.
“I know they’re fine, but it really also does speak to the fact that they’re vaccinated and vaccines really make all the difference because otherwise we would be concerned about hospitalization and worse,” Harris said in the delayed interview.
Both Harris and President Joe Biden, as well as their spouses, are fully vaccinated against Covid.
The Biden administration has gone to great lengths to increase Covid vaccination rates in the nation, issuing a series of vaccine mandates in the past two months.
Most recently, the administration issued sweeping vaccine mandates on Sept. 9 that affect private businesses and federal employees. Government personnel and contractors are required to get vaccinated with no alternative for testing, and any company with more than 100 staff must implement vaccine mandates with some medical and religious exemptions.
Biden also mandated all service members to get vaccinated by mid-September on Aug. 9.
On Friday, the president blamed the more than 70 million unvaccinated Americans for stalling U.S. economic recovery, and condemned elected officials who have worked to undermine his administration’s Covid efforts with false information.