CNN Anchor Brooke Baldwin Tests Positive for CCP Virus

CNN Newsroom Anchor Brooke Baldwin speaks in Washington in a 2017 file photograph. (Rick Diamond/Getty Images for Mother Nature Network)

CNN anchor Brooke Baldwin tested positive for the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as novel coronavirus.

The new virus from China causes a disease called COVID-19 that can prove deadly in a small percentage of cases, primarily for patients who are elderly or have underlying health conditions.

Baldwin, 40, told Instagram followers on Friday that she is fine.

“I am OKAY,” she wrote. “It came on suddenly yesterday afternoon. Chills, aches, fever.”

Baldwin was following social distancing guidelines but still contracted the illness.

“I’ve been social distancing. Doing ALL the things we’re being told to do. Still—it got me,” she wrote.

Baldwin said she'd be back on television soon.

Baldwin has been working out of CNN’s New York City offices. Media outlets are labeled as essential businesses and allowed to remain open under Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s order mandating nonessential businesses shut down.

CNN host Brooke Baldwin attends an event in New York City on Nov. 14, 2018. (Jemal Countess/Getty Images for CreativeChaos vmg)

Another New York-based CNN anchor, Chris Cuomo, tested positive for COVID-19, he said on Tuesday.

Cuomo, 49, has continued hosting his “Cuomo Prime Time” show. He’s now based in the basement of his house in a bid to avoid infecting his wife and children.

Chris Cuomo, the younger brother of Gov. Andrew Cuomo, appeared during the governor’s daily briefing on Thursday and the pair spent time speaking to each other.

“I’m doing pretty well, all things considered,” the younger Cuomo said. “I’m very lucky, I have a wife who loves me, who is keeping me fed. I have a nice place to be.”

Chris Cuomo attends the 12th Annual CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute at American Museum of Natural History in New York City on Dec. 9, 2018. (Michael Loccisano/Getty Images for CNN )

The CCP virus has also affected others in the media industry. Maria Mercader, a 54-year-old CBS News journalist, died over the weekend after becoming infected. NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell said last month that he tested positive. And NBC News employee Larry Edgeworth, who worked at the flagship 30 Rock studio in Manhattan, died from the virus in early March, according to the company.

The CCP virus is believed to spread mainly from person-to-person between people who are in close contact with one another (within about 6 feet) through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs, sneezes or talks, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“These droplets can land in the mouths or noses of people who are nearby or possibly be inhaled into the lungs,” the agency stated on its website.

“Some recent studies have suggested that COVID-19 may be spread by people who are not showing symptoms,” it added in a line that was previously not on the site.

Jack Phillips contributed to this report.