Andy Cohen has COVID-19, says separation from son is the worst part

The coronavirus is challenging parents in so many ways. We are adapting to so many new challenges and for some parents, that means being separated from their children.

This week father of one Andy Cohen is missing his 1-year-old son, Ben after Cohen was diagnosed with COVID-19 and needed to quarantine himself away from Ben. He follows other high-profile parents—including Tom and Rita Hanks and Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, the wife of Canada’s Prime Minister—who have been isolated apart from their children after a COVID-19 diagnosis.

Speaking on SiriusXM show, Jeff Lewis Live, this week Cohen said Ben is currently in the care of a nanny while his dad recovers.

“I’ll tell you what I know from the nanny cam and from videos, because I can’t see him, which is the very worst part,” Cohen said. “But he’s great, and his nanny [tested] negative.”

Several days into self-isolation, Cohen is feeling better in general, but still has moments where he feels like the virus is impacting him quite a bit.

According to Crystal Watson, an assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, people who have been diagnosed with COVID-19 should occupy a separate area from their family, which means Cohen is doing the right thing.

“If you can have a separate space for the sick person—a space where they can access the restroom without traveling through commons spaces—that would be best,” Watson told the Johns Hopkins publication the HUB.

Many parents would be heartbroken to have to move into a separate space while someone else cares for their children, but it is something those with COVID-19 and the medical staff treating them must do in this time. In order to prevent the more parents from having to isolate away from their children, the CDC says the best thing we can all do is stay home and practice social distancing.