The 47-year-old late-night host reveals he tested positive on the first day of his holiday break.
Jimmy Fallon tested positive for COVID-19 over the holidays. On Monday's The Tonight Show, the 47-year-old late-night host discussed his experience with the coronavirus, noting that he tested positive on the first day of the network's holiday break.
"On Saturday I was going to come in and do a bit on Saturday Night Live, but I tested positive," Fallon shared.
In fact, SNL's season finale episode, which Fallon referenced, did not go as planned. The live sketch comedy show was forced to send most of its cast and crew home due to the rise in cases of the omicron variant. The show instead aired pre-taped sketches and past holiday highlights.
"I was so scared," Fallon admitted of getting his positive test. "I went in like I normally did -- because we've been doing this testing for a year now -- so I know everyone up there, all the nurses and doctors... the nurse comes back in and she goes, 'Come with me.' I've never gotten, 'Come with me.'"
Fallon, who noted that he is vaccinated and boosted and that he regularly practices safety guidelines like masking and washing his hands, was then put in an isolation room while he awaited his results.
The TV personality remembers calling his wife, Nancy Juvonen, noting that she and their two daughters, 7-year-old Franny and 8-year-old Winnie, went to upstate New York so Fallon could isolate alone. However, his daughters also both tested positive for COVID-19.
"My girls tested positive as well. And they're fine, everyone's fine. Franny had the sniffles for like two days. Winnie had no symptoms at all," Fallon said, adding a silver lining to his daughters' diagnoses. "But that meant I could go home and spend the holidays with the kids, so I did. It was a Christmas miracle."
Fallon went on to urge viewers to get vaccinated and boosted to help mitigate the virus' spread as well as lessen the symptoms.
"I just want to tell everyone out there, please get vaxxed, get boosted, if you can. Because man, this thing, it's a banger, it's a real thing," he shared. "If I didn't have that, I know, it just felt like I'd be real, real, real, real sick. So I just want to thank all of my doctors."
Prior to his appearance on The Tonight Show, Fallon posted a photo to Instagram, revealing his COVID-19 diagnosis.
"Hey guys, on the first day of our holiday break I tested positive for COVID. I was vaccinated and boostered which made me lucky enough to only have mild symptoms. Thank you to the doctors and nurses who work so hard around the clock to get everyone vaxxed," he wrote. "Thank you to NBC for taking the testing protocols so seriously and doing a great job - and also thanks for putting me in the “What ‘chu talkin’ about Willis?” isolation room when they told me the news."
Fallon got some support from his celebrity pals, including Today show weatherman Al Roker, who revealed that his family had also came down with COVID over the holidays. "Hang in there, Jimmy. We got it, too but vaxxed and boosted and you get through," Roker wrote.
Reese Witherspoon also commented, "Hope you had a speedy recovery!"
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