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Sept. 24 (UPI) -- The View was forced to improvise Friday after two of its hosts tested positive for COVID-19 ahead of an interview with Vice President Kamala Harris. Friday's episode was underway when co-host Sunny Hostin and guest host Ana Navarro were asked to leave their seats just moments before sitting down with Harris for her first in-person talk show appearance since taking office.
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When the show returned, co-host Joy Behar announced that Hostin and Navarro had tested positive for COVID-19. The interview with Harris went ahead with remaining hosts Behar and Sara Haines, although Harris appeared on the show remotely in light of the news.
"I just want to say, I hope you're in a safe spot right now," Behar told Harris. "We did everything we could to make sure that you were safe, 'cause we value you so much."
"Sunny and Ana are strong women and I know they're fine, but it really also does speak to the fact that they're vaccinated and vaccines really make all the difference because otherwise we would be concerned about hospitalization and worse," Harris responded.
Harris then called upon Americans to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
"I've been watching, like many of you, with heartache, with the videos of people who are in an ICU bed, who did not get vaccinated, pleading with their family members," Harris said.
"The vaccine is free. It is safe, and it will save your life. So folks just need to get vaccinated," she added.
A White House official told CNN that Harris did not interact with Hostin or Navarro before the show.
The View returned for a 25th season this month with Behar, Haines, Hostin and Whoopi Goldberg as hosts. The Season 25 premiere marked the first time the show hosted an in-person studio audience since the COVID-19 shutdown.
"It's exciting. Yeah, if they trust us, I trust them. We got our masks, and everybody's just trying to get through this," Goldberg said of the pandemic on Good Morning America this month.
