The View‘s Joy Behar is taking all precautions when it comes to not contracting the coronavirus. The 77-year-old announced on March 12 while taping the show that will air on Friday, March 13 that she’s going to be taking a temporary leave from the ABC daytime talk show. “I’m in a higher risk group because of my age, but I’m perfectly healthy,” she tells her fellow panelists. according to our sister site Variety. “I don’t look my age, but I’m actually up there. The number makes me dizzy.”
She added that it was at her daughter’s urging that she stay home for the time being, to make sure she doesn’t come into contact with anyone who could have COVID-19. So far no staffers or panelists on The View have tested positive for the coronavirus. Joy’s fellow panelists Whoopi Goldberg, 64, Meghan McCain, 35, and Sunny Hostin, 51, will remain on the show.
Joy has been with the show since it’s inception in 1997. She took a leave of absence in 2013 and was a guest panelist in 2014 and 2015, and returned full-time when The View‘s 19th season kicked off on September 8, 2015. She’s been known most recently for her on-air feuds with conservative panelist Meghan. The daughter of late Sen. John McCain even went so far as to call Joy a b*tch on air during a tense political interaction in June 2019.
The View — along with nearly all other daytime and late night TV talk shows — decided to stop allowing studio audiences in to tapings to help stem the spread of the coronavirus. New York City — where The View tapes — has been particularly hard hit. On the same day that Joy made her announcement that she’d be taking a leave from the show, NYC Mayor Bill De Blasio declared a state of emergency in the city to help stop the spread of COVID-19. “It’s going to get a lot worse before it gets better,” he warned during a City Hall news conference. The city already has 95 confirmed cases, up from 42 the day prior.