Don’t expect Bravo to drop new seasons of The Real Housewives of New York City or The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills before their release dates.

Fans of the hit reality shows who are social distancing, self-isolating, and quarantining at home to stop the novel coronavirus spread have been hopeful the network would push the premieres up in the wake of the outbreak — similarly to how Hulu accelerated the release of Little Fires Everywhere and how Disney dropped Frozen II and Onward to Disney+ early.

Both shows are weeks away from premiering, RHONY kicking off its twelfth season on April 2 and RHOBH‘s milestone tenth season coming April 15.

But on Thursday’s episode of Reality Checked with Amy Phillips, Real Housewives executive producer Andy Cohen said that airing them ahead of their April debuts wouldn’t be an option.

“The issue is there’s only a certain amount of episodes totally color-corrected and locked right now, for both of those shows,” he told Amy Phillips on the SiriusXM show. “I think for RHONY there’s like, eight or nine done and for RHOBH, there’s like, five done. Something like that.”

He went on to say that the show’s production companies were putting plans in place to have those shows edited remotely, but that the process to do so was “more labor intensive” and “slower.”

“If we released all those now, we would wind up screwing ourselves in the end, so that’s the issue,” Cohen said. “The truth of the matter is, if this [coronavirus crisis] is going to go on for a while, just think of how much more we’re going to be ready for RHONY when it premieres! I just think we need to be focused.”


Cohen also spoke out about the Real Housewives of Atlanta season 12 reunion, which was supposed to film on Thursday but was postponed due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

“Obviously that’s not happening,” Cohen said. “Hopefully we will be able to shoot it just as soon as we possibly can. People are saying, ‘Why don’t you just do it remotely?’ I don’t think that that would work. I don’t think it would work well. I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

The Housewives EP added that the new season of RHOA was still being edited, but that they were falling “really behind.”

Cohen himself was meant to return to the airwaves on Sunday, with new episodes of Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen streaming live from his New York City apartment.

However, hours after the plans were announced, the 51-year-old Emmy winner revealed that he had tested positive for the coronavirus.

“After a few days of self-quarantine, and not feeling great, I have tested positive for coronavirus,” Cohen shared on Instagram.

“As much as I felt like I could push through whatever I was feeling to do #WWHL from home, we’re putting a pin in that for now so I can focus on getting better,” he continued. “I want to thank all the medical professionals who are working tirelessly for all of us, and urge everybody to stay home and take care of themselves.”

The broadcaster is just one of several celebrities to have contracted COVID-19, including The Bachelor‘s Colton Underwood, Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson, Daniel Dae Kim, and more.

As of Friday afternoon, there are at least 16,656 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the United States across all 50 states, with at least 214 deaths from a coronavirus-related illness reported, according to the New York Times. 

Just on Monday’s episode of his SiriusXM radio show Andy Cohen Live, Cohen revealed that he was social distancing in his New York City apartment with his son Benjamin Allen, who turned 1 last month.

“I’m not letting anyone into my home, I’m not having any friends over,” said Cohen, who hosted the Radio Andy show from his home. “I’m not going anywhere. … I’m just here with the nanny and Ben and we are hunkered down. We have enough food for two weeks.”

He added that a neighbor had been diagnosed with the illness, and that he had gone out “to get them food at the supermarket and some supplies,” which he left in front of their door.

“The person that I know who has it has had terrible, terrible aches and pains and chills for, this has been going on for almost a week,” Cohen added. “They just cannot shake it.”

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By Wednesday’s episode of Andy Cohen Live, the host said that he had started experiencing symptoms, having developed a 99.5-degree fever the night before. He had learned of a few other cases close to him too, including someone in his apartment building and someone in the audience of a show he did on March 10 at Feinstein’s 54 Below.

“There was a fever knocking at my door, it’s not there anymore,” Cohen said, explaining that his fever had gone away by the next morning. “I don’t know what to say.”

“I think what we all will be realizing as everyday comes that … it is likely that many of us did come in contact with someone last week who had it and maybe didn’t know it,” Cohen said.

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, and visit our coronavirus hub.


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