"The View's" Sunny Hostin and Ana Navarro Speak About False Positive COVID-19 Tests

Moments before they were expected to interview Vice President Kamala Harris on September 24, two hosts of The View—Sunny Hostin and Ana Navarro—were removed from a live broadcast. The hosts had reportedly tested positive for COVID-19. Fellow host Joy Behar announced they had breakthrough infections.

"Since this is going to be a major news story any minute now,” Behar explained, “what happened is that Sunny and Ana both apparently tested positive for COVID. No matter how hard we try, these things happen."

The interview with Harris went forward, but not face-to-face. "We never came into contact with the Vice President," host Behar clarified in an episode of The View on September 27, recapping the tumultuous broadcast's events.

As it turns out, Hostin and Navarro did not have COVID-19. "We were all given numerous COVID tests. I am thrilled to report that Sunny and Ana's results turned out to be false positive. Everyone is safe, healthy, and COVID-free," Behar said. "No one's got it. It was a mistake."

Executive producer Brian Teta gave a behind-the-scenes perspective of the broadcast. "It was an unbelievable set of circumstances. We found out moments before we came back on the air. All I could think of was that we had to keep the hosts safe, we had to keep the Vice President safe," Teta said. "That led to some really awkward television that I'd like to have back if I could."

Teta went on to apologize to Sunny and Ana. "They had this information put out on television, and to make it even worse, it turned out not to be true," Teta said. Behar pointed out that, in the end, it was better it wasn't true. "Nobody was ever in danger," Teta said.

Hostin and Navarro opened up about the surreal experience. "It was really uncomfortable for my results to be released publicly before I even knew what was going on, before they were verified," Hostin said. The "real world consequences" of the announcement were immediate for her family: Her husband, a surgeon, had to be pulled out of the operating room after the news broke; her child was taken out of school.

Earlier this year, Hostin's in-laws died of COVID-19 in the same week. "You can imagine how I felt thinking I could be COVID positive and my family could experience another loss. A loss I don't think my husband could handle," Hostin said. "I was relieved to find out I was COVID negative."

Hostin went on to say that she felt "assured" that she was fully vaccinated. "I was convinced that I would likely be OK," she said.

Navarro said she was "flabbergasted" by the news. "I had just spent the day with Kamala Harris's sister, niece, and brother-in-law. I was thinking, 'I'm Typhoid Mary, and I'm going to wipeout the entire Harris family in one week!'" Navarro recalled.

Looking back, Hostin said there's no one she'd want to go through this experience with other than Navarro. "Her charm, her wit, and her sense of humor really got me through it. I won't tell you the types of things that she was saying in Spanish, but it was pretty terrific."

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