Oprah Winfrey And Partner Stedman Graham Reunite After Two Weeks Of Quarantining Separately

Apr 14, 2020 by apost team

Oprah Winfrey’s partner Stedman Graham isolated himself in the couple’s guesthouse for 14 days after returning from a business trip in order to protect Winfrey from any chance of catching the novel coronavirus. But on April 2, following two weeks of isolation in which Graham did not show any symptoms, Winfrey announced in an Instagram video that the two had finally reunited and were back to living together under one roof.

The video, which has hundreds of thousands of views, featured two former students of the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy of Girls program singing and dancing to greet Graham as he left the guesthouse and reunited with Winfrey. In the video, one of the students asked how the 69-year-old was doing after his period in isolation. Graham replied: “Free, free at last.”

“I bet you appreciate us more now,” Winfrey said referring to herself and the girls. “I appreciated you before, honey,” Graham replied.

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According to NBC News, doctors diagnosed Winfrey with a “very serious” case of pneumonia last September, and the television star recently finished a course of antibiotics. So when Graham returned from his business trip, Winfrey told her partner that he had to self quarantine.

 “Have you not been paying attention to the news?” Winfrey said to him, according to NBC News. “Social distancing doesn’t mean you go and sleep in the same bed with the person! When you just got off American Airlines!”

Winfrey announced Graham’s decision to quarantine himself on March 23 in an Instagram Live dialogue with the editor of O, The Oprah Magazine, according to NBC News. Throughout his two weeks cooped up in the guest house alone, Winfrey updated her fans on the OprahMagazine Instagram account with videos of her talking to her partner from a safe distance and leaving food on his doorstep. While it may seem like Graham’s quarantine was less self-imposed and more at Winfrey’s suggestion, Winfrey said that her partner was happy to accomodate.

“My friends say ‘Oh, isn’t Stedman upset?’” Winfrey said in the Instagram Live interview of Graham's self-quarantine, according to NBC News. “He’s really not. He’s happy to keep me safe.”

The suggested 14-day quarantine is not an arbitrary amount of time; rather, the 14-day rule is based on what researchers know so far about the virus, according to NPR. When a virus infects someone, it doesn’t immediately present itself through symptoms. This is called the virus incubation period, a gap of time in which the patient may be infected but is nonetheless asymptomatic. While the average incubation period is around five days, according to research cited by NPR, there’s still a minute chance that people could get infected and not show symptoms for up to around 14 days.

That’s why Graham’s self-quarantine makes sense, especially from a research-oriented public health perspective. According to Lindsay Wiley, a professor at American University's Washington College of Law, who spoke with NPR, the type of quarantine Graham underwent even has a name in the research community — a traveler’s quarantine.

After posting about Graham’s release from self-quarantine on April 2, Winfrey quickly followed up on social media with a pledge to donate $10 million to coronavirus relief.

What do you think about Stedman Graham's decision to self quarantine? Have you had to quarantine yourself after a period of travel? Let us know and pass this uplifting video of the couple's reunion on to friends and family members.