Robin Roberts, one of the most familiar faces in morning-TV news, will start to co-anchor ABC’s “Good Morning America” from home, after a doctor recommended she do so due to her medical history and the nation’s continuing struggle with the spread of coronavirus
Roberts has no symptoms and is in good health, but has grappled in years past with myelodysplastic syndrome, a bone marrow disease, and took time off from the show in late 2012 and early 2013 for a bone-marrow transplant. “It’s hard to leave because you want the normalcy. You want it not just for yourself, but for your viewers,” Roberts said Tuesday in what will be her last broadcast for the time being from the Times Square Studios that house “GMA” production in New York. She added: “I’ll be able to keep my slippers on the whole morning.”
Roberts’ departure from traditional “GMA” environs marks just the latest in a parade of TV-news personalities forced to adopt new working methodologies as the coronavirus forces Americans to distance themselves from one another. At “Today,” the NBC morning program that is “GMA’s” main rival, co-anchor Savannah Gutrhie has been broadcasting from a home studio for several days after displaying cold-like symptoms. Her colleagues, Al Roker and Craig Melvin, have been doing the same after an NBC News employee involved with “Today” production tested positive for coronavirus.
Many TV-news outlets are grappling with fallout from spread of the contagion, with employees testing positive for coronavirus at NBC News, CBS News, ABC News and Fox News Media. Other well-known anchors who have acknowledged they are at home due to caution or for quarantine include Charles Payne, Liz Claman and Lou Dobbs from Fox Business Network; Seth Doane from CBS News; and Kaylee Hartung from ABC News.