NEW YORK – After weeks of being isolated due to his COVID-19 diagnosis, CNN host Chris Cuomo reunited with his family after being cleared by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
In a video posted by Cuomo Prime Time, the 49-year-old emerged from his basement and was greeted by three children. Instead of giving big hugs, the family gave the “hang loose” hand sign to each other to be cautious.
Here's the very moment @ChrisCuomo emerged from his basement, where he's been riding out coronavirus for the last several weeks. pic.twitter.com/tugkXCGZD7
— Cuomo Prime Time (@CuomoPrimeTime) April 21, 2020
Cuomo was also greeted by his wife, Cristina, who was diagnosed with COVID-19 too, but she was also cleared by the CDC. Cuomo said his wife completed her quarantine and didn’t have a fever or symptoms anymore.
As for the anchor himself, he experienced symptoms like a persistent fever, shivering so hard that he chipped a tooth, hallucinations of his late father, and lost several pounds in three days.
“This is the dream, just to be back up here, doing normal things,” said Cuomo.
Speaking with Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Cuomo said he still has a few weeks of recovery and part of that is getting exercise.
“Now I have a three-week recovery process,” he said. “I did the first part today. I could barely breath doing a walk 25 minutes. I felt like I was exhausted. I did some little bands that I normally wouldn’t warm up with. I felt pain, I felt strain. This really knocks people sideways that it will take weeks.”
Cuomo also spoke about his family being “spooked” by the experience, having both parents fall ill due to the virus.
“This has spooked the family,” he said. “We’re spooked by this, like families you’ve talk to all over the country. It really rocked us when Cristina got a case, albeit much more mild than mine and I think she’s just stronger than I am.”