Joy Behar Taking Leave of Absence from The View Over Coronavirus Because of Age

Despite extra precautions taken at "The View" to minimize possible exposure to the COVID-19 coronavirus, Joy Behar has decided that she'd be better off staying at home, according to Variety. Consider it a preventative self-quarantine.

This despite the fact that Behar is feeling perfectly fine and no one from the staff of the ABC talker has tested positive for the virus. For Behar it's just a matter of health and precautions, and it has everything to do with her age. At 77 years old, she is among those listed at higher risk should they contract the virus.

I've been thinking, maybe at my age -- I know I look good, I don't look my age, I am actually up there -- I don't really want to tell it. The number makes me dizzy. I'm thinking maybe I should stay home and socially distance myself," she said on Friday's show, in a bit pre-taped Thursday. "This morning, I get a text from my daughter and she says to me, 'Are you staying home. Get in reality, mom!' I decided that I think I'm gonna stay home for a while, I'm going to socially distance for a bit."

"I'm in a higher risk group because of my age, but I'm perfectly healthy," she added. "I'm doing this myself. Luckily, I don't have to worry about childcare and things like that and I have enough money to take off some time."

Her co-hosts, including Whoopi Goldberg (64 years old), Meghan McCain (35 years old) and Sunny Hostin (51 years old), will continue to bring the show to viewers on a daily basis. Behar plans to take the next week off and then reassess to determine when she might return.

"The View" axed live audiences already this week in response to the global pandemic, along with many other daytime shows. The late-night talk shows were intending to do the same starting next week, but in a dramatic shift they cut live audiences for Thursday's shows and are shutting down altogether next week.

"The Wendy Williams Show," which has also been airing without a live audience, has also decided to stop filming new episodes, as has "The Kelly Clarkson Show," "Jeopardy!" "The Price Is Right" and "Wheel of Fortune."

For the time being, "Family Feud" will continue airing new episodes and "America's Got Talent" continues taping their audition episodes, albeit without studio audiences. That said, things continue to be in flux on a daily basis, and so just as the late-night plans changed dramatically in 24 hours, all of this could shift at a moment's notice.

You can check out the impact coronavirus has had on concerts, events and movie releases (with the slate nearly wiped clean at this point) in our ever-updating post below:

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