CNN host Chris Cuomo is now officially out of quarantine and shared a video of himself emerging from his basement on April 20.
He had been self-isolating ever since he tested positive for COVID-19.
“Alright, here it is,” Chris said as he emerged. “The official re-entry from the basement, cleared by the CDC.”
It was the moment he had been dreaming of “literally for weeks” as he was finally reunited with his family although his wife, Cristina, held out her arms to keep a safe distance from him.
“My wife, she was cleared by the CDC,” he said. “She doesn’t have a fever, she doesn’t have the symptoms anymore, more than seven days from her quarantine.”
In lieu of hugs, Chris did air fist bumps with his family as “we’re still a little scared.”
“This is the dream. Just to be back up here doing normal things,” he said while also thanking his kids for stepping up and taking care of him and Cristina when they were both sick.
“I’m back,” the journalist said as he blew a kiss to the camera. “So let’s get after it.”
On his show Cuomo Prime Time on Monday night, Chris spoke about Cristina’s speedy recovery, saying his “wife has once again proven that she is the stronger part of the couple.”
“She’s out of quarantine, and she dealt with it in a fraction of the time so we are among the blessed,” he told Atlanta’s Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms.
On March 31, Chris revealed that he had tested positive for COVID-19 though he continued hosting his show from the basement of his New York home.
Since that time he has recounted to viewers the fever, body aches, and “shivering so much that” that a tooth got chipped. He even had intense hallucinations, one of which involved his father the late New York governor Mario Cuomo, speaking to him.
“I was seeing people from college, people I haven’t seen in forever,” he said during one broadcast earlier this month. “It was freaky, what I lived through, and it may happen again tonight.”
Two weeks after Chris’ diagnosis, Cristina also tested positive for the disease.
“You never know how strong you are, until being strong is your only choice,” she wrote on April 16 in an Instagram post. “COVID-19 got me.”
“A seemingly sinus-related infection was my first symptom,” she said. “But the only frustrating part is I can’t be there for my kids right now in the way they need me as Chris is in isolation too still, no fever and feeling better.”
Chris also posted a video on Monday showing him taking his first steps outside since coming off quarantine.
“Finally outside,” he told the camera while wearing a protective mask.
He captioned the video with: “waited weeks for this. Was winded. Could be mask but just reality of covid. Virus ‘gone’ but body may take weeks to come back. Appreciate the support. Truly.”
Replaced!