Howard Stern Misses His Radio Show For The First Time In Years Due To Catching COVID-19

Last week, Howard Stern was absent from his SiriusXM radio show. It was big news to his followers because he rarely (if ever) misses a day or more of work. The dude is as consistent as they come.

So understandably, his fans were worried, but we’re happy to report that the 69-year-old star returned to work this week, and he revealed that COVID-19 was to blame for his absence last week.

He had managed to avoid getting the virus since the start of the pandemic in 2020, so you can imagine how shocked he was to catch it last week.

I took a sick day and I’m still sick, you can still hear it in my voice. We were supposed to be back last week. We weren’t because I got COVID-19. I just want to announce something. COVID is really bad. You do not want COVID. Oh f–k. Man, I went through hell … I’ve really never been this sick. What a wallop this thing is -– can you imagine if we didn’t have the vaccine?

Stern is a bit of a germaphobe. Last September, he revealed that his paranoia of catching the virus actually caused arguments between him and his wife, Beth Stern.

I’m going crazy with this. My wife yelled at me last night. We got into a fight. You know how paranoid I am about getting COVID. I haven’t gotten it, and I’m pretty safe, and I really don’t want to get it.

Stern famously didn’t leave his house for two years following the start of the pandemic. His first public outing was back on October 2022 in New York City. He grabbed some dinner with a few very famous friends, including Jon Hamm, Jennifer Aniston and Jimmy Kimmel.