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Savannah Guthrie Returns to Today Studio After Working from Home for Nearly Two Weeks

Savannah Guthrie Returns to Today Studio After Working from Home for Nearly Two Weeks

Savannah Guthrie was back in NBC’s Studio 1A on Tuesday, co-anchoring Today in person with Hoda Kotb for the first time in nearly two weeks.

“So this is Studio 1A! I haven’t been here in a while,” the newscaster and mother of two, 48, joked at the top of the show.

Guthrie had been working from home since just before Today‘s March 18 broadcast, a decision she made out of an abundance of caution after coming down with a mild sore throat and runny nose.

“I wouldn’t have thought anything of it, but we are in different times aren’t we?” Guthrie said at the time, adding that she really wanted to “model the vigilance that the CDC is asking of all of us right now” amid the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Since then, Guthrie has continued to appear on Today remotely, delivering the news from a makeshift studio in the basement of her home while Kotb remained working from the show’s midtown New York City office.

Kotb, 55, was overjoyed to have Guthrie back on Tuesday. “I was just going to say, so many things are not normal and in this moment, right now as I look at you, something finally is,” she told Guthrie. “It’s good to see you.”

“It’s good to finally be in the same room!” Guthrie said. “I wish we were closer like we used to snuggle up but we are practicing our social distancing. It’s good to be back in the studio.”

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Both Guthrie and Kotb will be hosting a special primetime show about the coronavirus pandemic on Tuesday night, one in a series of specials NBC is producing about the health crisis in the coming weeks.

Set to air at 10 p.m. EST, the show will “examine the outbreak’s toll” and “the countries potential new hotspots” while answering viewer questions, Guthrie said.

As of Tuesday morning, at least 163,575 people across every state and territory in the United States have tested positive for the virus, according to a New York Times database. More than 3,000 people have died — more than the number of people killed in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

One of those deaths was NBC audio technician Larry Edgeworth. The 61-year-old died from coronavirus complications earlier this month. He had been with the network for 25 years.

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Meanwhile, though Guthrie was back at work on Tuesday, many of her Today coworkers remained at home including Al Roker — who has been delivering his usual weather broadcast from his living room (and sometimes, backyard).

Roker, 65, hasn’t been in the studio since March 13. He and Craig Melvin, who both co-anchor the 3rd Hour of Today, voluntarily quarantined at home out of an abundance of caution after a staffer on their show was diagnosed with coronavirus.

Melvin, 40, returned to the studio on March 25, calling the experience of being back after long break “surreal.”

“Everything about it is surreal. The drive in, just about every other part of this country right now, streets are empty, sidewalks are empty,” Melvin said. “You know this studio is usually teeming with people. It is me and [two other people]. That’s it. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“We’ll get through it,” he insisted. “We’ll get through it.”

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Good to be back in studio for @3rdHourToday.

A post shared by Craig Melvin (@craigmelvinnbc) on Mar 25, 2020 at 5:59am PDT

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The rest of the Today team has been off for a variety of other reasons (save for Willie Geist, who has hosted Sunday Today from in-studio).

Carson Daly is on paternity leave, his wife Siri Daly giving birth to their fourth child — daughter Goldie Patricia — on March 26. Dylan Dreyer is still on maternity leave too following the birth of her second child, Oliver George, on Jan. 2.

Sheinelle Jones is still recovering from vocal surgery, having removed a polyp on her vocal cord that was harming her ability to speak.

As for Jenna Bush Hager, she remained at home to practice social distancing after taking a week off for her kids’ spring break, but also returned via FaceTime from her home to host Today with Hoda and Jenna on Tuesday.

Today airs weekdays starting at 7 a.m. ET on NBC.

As information about the coronavirus pandemic rapidly changes, PEOPLE is committed to providing the most recent data in our coverage. Some of the information in this story may have changed after publication. For the latest on COVID-19, readers are encouraged to use online resources from CDC, WHO, and local public health departments. To help provide doctors and nurses on the front lines with life-saving medical resources, donate to Direct Relief here.