ESPN anchor Scott Van Pelt revealed Thursday evening he has tested positive for COVID-19.
The 54-year-old host of ESPN’s late-night SportsCenter said in a tweet that he would be off the air after testing positive for the virus.
SportsCenter Broadcasts to Fill Van Pelt’s Absence
ESPN spokesman Andy Hall told Online Gambling Friday morning that while the network won’t “discuss details of our protocol due to privacy concerns,” ESPN takes the safety of its employees very seriously, and will continue to do so as they closely monitor the situation.
Van Pelt is the biggest name from ESPN to test positive for the virus thus far. The network plans to fill in the 20-year-veteran anchor’s time slot with a pair of SportsCenter broadcasts.
“While he is out, the time his show airs will be filled by a mixture of the 11 p.m. SportsCenter from Bristol extending for an hour, or the 1 a.m. SportsCenter from Los Angeles starting an hour earlier,” Hall told OG.
Van Pelt isn’t able to say when he will return to the network, but hinted on Twitter that his absence will be brief. “…I will hunker down and hopefully can be back at it before too long,” he wrote.