After announcing earlier in the day that he had been diagnosed with the coronavirus disease, Chris Cuomo hosted Cuomo Prime Time at 9 p.m. tonight from the basement of his home.
Cuomo is now quarantining in his basement, and will continue to host CNN’s 9 p.m. hour from a makeshift studio there for the duration of his quarantine.
He delivered a stirring monologue at the top of tonight’s broadcast.
“Tonight’s show will be a little different,” said Cuomo. “Priority remains, reality set in all the way to the president. Brace yourself, not for a hoax, but for the next few weeks of scary and painful realities. The government is saying we need to keep doing what we are doing. The mitigation efforts are working. The reality, we are our best and, perhaps, only defense. If you need a death toll, you will get it every day, and it will frighten you. 4,000 already. Maybe 100,000. 250,000. Trumped up today by this president potentially saying it could have been millions.”
Added Cuomo: “My suggestion, don’t get caught in the numbers. They’re scary and out of context. We do not have the testing data to make real sense of our reality beyond what we know is the face of it for an overwhelming number who get sick. And that face is mine. I tested positive. Scary, yes, as you might imagine.”
The CNN host said he was concerned that someone in his family might contract the virus.
“But better me than you,” he said. “My concern is what I may put on my family, just like you would. That is hurting me way more than anything the virus can do. So, let’s focus, let’s use this example of me having it as proof that you can get it, too.
God forbid, we have to do everything we can to avoid being sick. We have to do it for ours, our families, and for those on the front lines, we are saving the lives of people like me and many of you. Together as ever as one. That is our remedy. What do you say? Let’s get after it.”
WATCH:
>> @ChrisCuomo‘s intro for viewers tonight: “I tested positive. Scary, yes, as you might imagine—but better me than you. My concern is what I may have put on my family, just like you would. That is hurting me way more than anything the virus can do.” pic.twitter.com/UbDnzW5TfR
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) April 1, 2020