CNN host Chris Cuomo on Thursday evening said that his wife, Cristina Greeven Cuomo, who recently tested positive for the coronavirus, believes two of their children had the disease in the past few months.
Cuomo, who announced his own COVID-19 diagnosis late last month, has been updating the public about his battle with the virus during his weeknightly cable news show Cuomo Prime Time, which he has continued to anchor from the basement of his home under quarantine. Last night, he confirmed that his wife had also tested positive for the novel coronavirus 17 days after his diagnosis was discovered.
During a CNN coronavirus town hall tonight, Cuomo told CNN host Anderson Cooper and chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta that his wife “believes that two of them have had it in the past two months,” in reference to the virus and his children. Cuomo noted that his wife’s belief is only anecdotal and said “we just don’t know,” but pointed to symptoms such as “sinus, fever and lethargy” as signs that suggest they did.
Cuomo, who has three children, did not specify which two of his children his wife thinks had COVID-19. “I think we’re going to find out that coronavirus has been in his country since October, that there’ve been cases,” he said. “How many have you heard say, ‘I think I had it.’ Those cases are abounding all over the country.”
When asked about his infection, Cuomo said he’s feeling “better than I deserve.” On his wife’s infection, Cuomo said that her symptoms are “completely different” to his own.
“She’s stronger than I am,” he said. “She’s got a stronger immune system, a stronger constitution and a stronger character. She lost her sense of smell and taste, but no fever. Sinus pressure in her head and a little bit of residual frustration at me, because I’m almost certainly how she got sick.”
Cuomo went on to reveal that they are now quarantined separately, and will continue to be for another two weeks “out of an abundance of caution” as doctors cannot confirm that he’s immune from being reinfected. “Our house is dependent on a 17-year-old,” the host said. “My daughter, Bella, who’s stepping up. This is now Lord of the Flies in my house. The kids are in control.”
Newsweek reached out to CNN for additional information.
Dr. Dyan Hes, a New York City pediatrician at Gramercy Pediatrics, advised parents in the area to operate under the assumption that their kids have the coronavirus if they show symptoms, regardless of how mild. In an interview with CBS News this week, he said that he believes “probably 80 percent of the children have coronavirus.”
“We are not testing children. I’m in New York City. I can’t get my patients tested,” he said. “And we have to assume, if they are sick, they have coronavirus. Most of them, probably 80 to 90 percent of them, are asymptomatic.”
A report, released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on April 6, found that children rarely developed severe illness from COVID-19. “Although most cases reported among children to date have not been severe, clinicians should maintain a high index of suspicion for COVID-19 infection in children and monitor for progression of illness, particularly among infants and children with underlying conditions,” the report said.
The CDC has reported at least three domestic deaths among children caused by the virus.
