Chris Cuomo's Wife Cristina Opens Up About the 'Frustrating Part' of Contracting Coronavirus

Chris Cuomo‘s wife, Cristina Cuomo, is speaking out after testing positive for the novel coronavirus two weeks following her husband’s COVID-19 diagnosis.

The mother of three — who shares son Mario, 14, and daughters Bella, 17, and Carolina, 11, with the CNN host — opened up about her own diagnosis in an Instagram post on Thursday, writing, “You never know how strong you are, until being strong is your only choice. COVID-19 got me.”

“A seemingly sinus-related infection was my first symptom,” she continued. “But the only frustrating part is I can’t be there for my kids right now in the way they need me as Chris is in isolation too still, no fever and feeling better.”

Since Chris, 49, is still quarantined in the basement of their home after being diagnosed with the highly contagious virus himself, Cristina told her followers that her children have had to step up to take care of the household while both parents are sick.

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“Bella, Mario and Carolina have grown up overnight—Bella, our 17-year-old daughter, stepped up cleaning, doing laundry, cooking for her siblings and getting them situated with google classroom, and caregiving her mother and father. Mario, her assistant,” she shared alongside a photo of her kissing her daughter. “So much gratitude for them. I can’t wait to wrap my arms around them again.

Cristina, who founded the wellness website The Purist, added that she’s now “committed to this naturopathic route more than ever” in her fight against coronavirus.

“Support the immune system, not suppress it. Pooling anecdotal evidence and sharing methods for recovery are important. Why? Communication is all we’ve got right now,” she wrote.

“Please keep sharing your stories. It’s the only way we achieve freedom from fear. Staying strong is the battle.”

View this post on Instagram You never know how strong you are, until being strong is your only choice. Covid-19 got me. A seemingly sinus-related infection was my first symptom. But the only frustrating part is I can’t be there for my kids right now in the way they need me as Chris is in isolation too still, no fever and feeling better. Bella, Mario and Carolina have grown up overnight—Bella, our 17-year-old daughter, stepped up cleaning, doing laundry, cooking for her siblings and getting them situated with google classroom, and caregiving her mother and father. Mario, her assistant. So much gratitude for them. I can’t wait to wrap my arms around them again. I am committed to this naturopathic route more than ever. Support the immune system, not suppress it. Pooling anecdotal evidence and sharing methods for recovery are important. Why? Communication is all we’ve got right now. Please keep sharing your stories. It’s the only way we achieve freedom from fear. Staying strong is the battle.

A post shared by Cristina Cuomo (@cristinacuomo) on Apr 16, 2020 at 2:55pm PDT

//www.instagram.com/embed.js

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Chris first spoke of his wife’s diagnosis on Wednesday night during a virtual interview with his brother, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, on Cuomo Prime Time.

“Cristina now has COVID. She is now positive, and it just breaks my heart,” the news anchor told his sibling. “It is the one thing I was hoping wouldn’t happen and now it has.”

Chris also shared that his wife was “not upset” about catching the virus, explaining she’s the type of person who “takes everything in stride.”

“She lost her sense of smell and taste,” he said of her symptoms. “Anecdotally, the cases I hear that are more mild tend to have that.”

The television journalist tweeted about Cristina’s condition following the broadcast, writing, “Families all over know the reality our family faces: few are one case and done. Sure enough, Cristina has covid now. Kids are still healthy but this shook us at our literal core. All are stepping up. Can’t wait to shake this fever so I can help her as she helped me. Sucks.”

RELATED VIDEO: Chris Cuomo Reveals Wife Cristina Has Tested Positive for Coronavirus: ‘It Just Breaks My Heart’

Earlier this week, Cristina spoke about how she’s been nursing her husband back to health, telling Extra‘s Billy Bush, “I stand at the top of the stairs and there’s a landing there. I put a food tray down … I have my gloves and mask.”

“He comes to the stairs and we hang out,” she said.

At the time, the mom said that she’s been focusing on preparing healthy meals for her family.

“Food is medicine, too, so our whole effort was to build back his immune system,” Cristina said. “We integrated things his doctors suggested like Tylenol and Allegra-D, but most importantly, it was the good foods and the herbs, the oxygenated herbs. And obviously, the vitamins were critical for this and necessary right now.”

RELATED: Chris Cuomo Says Coronavirus Fever Got So Bad He Chipped His Tooth and Was ‘Hallucinating’

“I put together sort of a clean diet that didn’t put stress on his liver, and I didn’t want to tax his bodily functions so that all the energy was focused on digesting fatty foods,” she explained. “So, you need a lot of soups, lentil soup, chicken soups, legumes, vegetable soups, which are always good when someone is sick.”

As of April 16, there have been at least 638,374 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the United States, with 28,628 deaths from coronavirus-related illness.

Worldwide, there are now 2,088,425 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 139,419 deaths.

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.