Here’s Why Whoopi Goldberg Was Absent From ‘The View’ This Week

Whoopi Goldberg has tested positive for COVID-19, thus she is once again going to be absent from The View. Joy Behar, who takes over as host from Goldberg on Fridays, started Thursday's live broadcast by discussing Goldberg's health. As reported by Parade, Behar announced to the audience during the episode, "You might have noticed Whoopi is not here. Whoopi has tested positive for COVID. You know, it's going around still. So you have to be careful!"

It seems like this is Goldberg's fourth fight with Covid. She discussed her third encounter with the coronavirus in a video message she sent to the program in September 2023. She said in the video message, "In spite of everything you’ve heard. I am not at Burning Man, I am not still in Italy, and I am not trying to change the outcome of the election, I just have Covid. I have to have a clear test before I can come back, so it might be a couple of days but I’m really thrilled to see the beautiful new desk. I’m really thrilled to see all the beautiful women. You girls look great and, you know, I can’t wait to get back and hang out. But, until then, it’s me and my mask." Behar spoke out against vax-deniers back then, who had used the sickened vaccinated Goldberg to back their argument. Behar stated at the time, "She’s just a little under the weather. If you don’t get [the vaccine] and you get the disease you might die. This type of irrational talk drives me nuts." 

In 2022, she received another diagnosis of Covid-19. Goldberg made headlines when she declared that her illness was a breakthrough case, even though she was boosted and vaccinated. As reported by ABC, she said, "It was a shock, because I'm triple vaxxed, I haven't been anywhere, I haven't done anything. It's one of those things where you think, I've done everything I was supposed to do... Yeah, it doesn't stop omicron." Goldberg further stated, "I don't know how much more proof people need to see that the vaccination -- while it does not necessarily stop it from happening again -- it is not happening at the same rate that it was. I don't know anybody that doesn't know somebody who's got it or has just gotten over it. That is not a good sign."

This follows news that Covid-19 levels have been steadily climbing in the US for weeks, likely due to the introduction of new variants. Since the US public health emergency ended over a year ago, surveillance of Covid-19 has been drastically reduced. Serious outcomes are now determined using representative samples of the population, rather than counting individual cases. Nevertheless, the data that is currently available continues to show a consistent upward trend. The CDC reports that at least 38 states are likely seeing an increase in infections. Virus activity is still low, according to wastewater monitoring, but illnesses and fatalities are on the rise.