CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, quarantined in his basement while recovering from COVID-19, announced during his prime-time show on Wednesday that his wife, Cristina Cuomo, has also now tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
Cristina Cuomo, 50, is a magazine editor who’s been posting updates about her husband’s battle with the virus on Instagram. The couple have three children.
Chris Cuomo, 49, broke the news about his wife testing positive for COVID-19 during an interview with his brother, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
“It’s very rare for a family to be one and done,” Chris Cuomo said. “Christina now has COVID, she is now positive, and it just breaks my heart. It is the one thing I was hoping wouldn’t happen, and now it has.”
Andrew Cuomo responded by saying that his sister-in-law’s diagnosis illustrates the reality that families across the U.S. are facing.
“It’s very hard for a person to quarantine in a home and other people not to get infected,” Andrew Cuomo said. “To do it in a home, where a person is bringing you dishes, bringing you food, even if they’re wearing a mask and gloves — this virus can live on some surfaces up to two days.
“In some ways, this was inevitable,” Andrew Cuomo added. “Luckily it was Cristina, not one of the kids. Now, this is what families are dealing with. The point of you communicating this rather than just taking a couple of weeks off, is you’re communicating to Americans what this is like, and by the way, this is what it’s like: One person gets the virus, other people in the home get the virus. You now have a mother and father with the virus. You have three kids that you have to take care of. This gets very complicated very fast, so there is a reality to this.”
Andrew Cuomo also quipped that Chris doesn’t have to worry about Cristina blaming him for giving her the virus, because it would be “No. 17 on the list” of things to blame him for.
“For the kids, when all is said and done, I don’t think this is a bad experience for them to go through,” Andrew Cuomo said. “You want to talk about them growing up a little bit, and seeing reality a little bit. I know it makes a bad situation worse, but it’s all going to be fine in the end.”
Chris Cuomo reported that his wife has lost her sense of taste and smell, symptoms which anecdotally have been associated with more mild cases of the virus. He also said that unlike him, she is taking her diagnosis in stride.
“My 17-year-old stepped up,” he said. “The kids stepped up, because mom is the core. When mom goes down, you feel it. They have stepped up. They’re more quiet. They’re focused on her, and hopefully it makes the family even stronger.”
Watch the full segment below.
