Gayle King hosted CBS Mornings from a van outside the studio on Thursday after testing positive for COVID right before the show.
The anchor, who is vaccinated and boosted, shared a photo of herself in the van with an unimpressed look.
“Single tear,” she wrote. “Off the set & in the van alone after testing POSITIVE for COVID just before air this am.” However, it was a wild ride as she”then tested negative THREE times after the (unexplained) positive.”
The newswoman said she was “confused” because she’s “tripled vaccinated & boostered” and “everyone on my team tested negative.” Plus, she has “NO symptoms.” Her doctor determined it was a false positive and she does “NOT have COVID & can move in the world,” though she’ll continue wearing her mask, King said.
She noted that she starts vacation tomorrow and was “dreading being isolated in my apartment.”
King wasn’t the only member of the team who came back positive during a pre-show screening. Correspondent Vladimir Duthiers did as well. He has also since tested negative multiple times too — and will be back on air tomorrow.
Had a bit of a scare this morning when one of my routine PCR tests came up positive for covid-19. Took two more PCR tests to be sure and they both came up negative. I’ll see you tomorrow on @CBSMornings at 7amET and then @CBSNews at 9amET https://t.co/hQT4RFTsvw
— Vladimir Duthiers (@vladduthiersCBS) February 10, 2022
Earlier that morning, co-anchor Tony Dokoupil was joined at the news desk with CBS Saturday Morning’s Dana Jacobson.
“So, it’s been a different sort of morning around here at CBS Mornings,” Dokoupil said. “What happens is we come in and we take tests often during the week before shows. When we did that this morning, [Gayle] tested positive and Vlad,” filling in for Nate Burleson” also tested positive. Since then we’ve had multiple negative tests, including us, and we are hopeful that everyone is going to end up being in the clear. But we took some steps out of abundance of caution which involved [Gayle] being in a van, not down by the river, but somewhere, in a location outside the studio.”
King, from the van, then talked about getting the news hours before she’s to leave to Los Angeles on vacation.
“That primal scream you heard … was me because I’ve been so freaking careful,” she said. “I just couldn’t believe it… We’ve since taken multiple, and they’ve all been negative. Everybody on my team is negative. I don’t even know how to explain this. I just got off the phone with my doctor. She said, ‘Gayle, you’re fine. just put on your mask and carry on.’ But it is very, very jarring, I have to say: a day before my vacation!”
The View had excitement like that when Vice President Kamala Harris appeared on the show last year — though even more dramatic. After the show had begun its broadcast, Sunny Hostin and Ana Navarro were removed from the broadcast after getting positive COVID results. They turned out to be false positives as well. Joy Behar was left killing time on the air while it was all sorted and they found a remote location for the VP to be interviewed.
