Many of us are on a medium to high alert right now as we've been told to work from home and engage in other forms of self-isolation in order to try to curb the spread of the coronavirus throughout the United States. But, some people are still doing their due diligence and heading out to work until they absolutely can't anymore, and that includes most news anchors. Well Today hosts Al Roker and Craig Melvin were both absent from their morning gig today, and it turns out it's because they may have come into contact with the coronavirus.
Here's what happened. Rather than ignore the absences of two of its key hosts this morning on Today, the show had Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb let viewers in on why, exactly, Al Roker and Craig Melvin weren't around. Roker and Melvin, who co-host the third hour of Today with Sheinelle Jones and Dylan Dreyer, both took the day off because they may have come into contact with another employee who works on their hour of the daytime talker who's tested positive for the coronavirus.
The other employee who tested positive wasn't named, but Guthrie did confirm that those positive results came back late last night, and that Roker and Melvin decided to be cautious and take the day off of work, so that their steps could be traced (along with those of the co-worker who tested positive) to see who else they may have come into contact with.
The good news right now is that neither Al Roker nor Craig Melvin are exhibiting any symptoms of the coronavirus, and both feel good right now and hope to be back at work on Today soon. Guthrie was sure to mention that the move for them to stay home was simply "out of an abundance of caution" just so everyone could make sure there isn't a threat of the virus spreading to even more Today staffers.
I'm sure it was nerve-racking for both Al Roker and Craig Melvin to realize they'd been in contact with someone who's now been confirmed to have the coronavirus, and, considering how quickly it spreads, the best move does seem to be staying at home and getting tested for it when you can before making any potential returns to your standard daily life. This is the only real way to keep it from spreading even more, especially since it now looks possible that people can be completely asymptomatic but still infect others.
Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb didn't mention how the Today employee who tested positive may have gotten the virus, but that might just be because they aren't sure yet and the employee is still being interviewed to track their movements and see not only how they contracted the conronavirus but who else might need to be tested now because of their infection. You can watch the clip of the announcement about Al Roker and Craig Melvin below:
Hopefully, all will be well soon enough, not just with Al Roker and Craig Melvin, but with the Today staffer who has tested positive for the coronavirus, and all can get back to their lives before long. Actually, I'm just hoping that for everyone, because now is a tough, tense, sucky time.
If you're staying in as much as possible (I really hope you are), and in need of some viewing options to keep anxiety at bay, be sure to check out our 2020 midseason guide, Netflix release schedule and our Hulu new release lists for March and April!
