Arizona Was Hit Hard by COVID-19, but How About the 'Sister Wives'?

The onset of the pandemic and worldwide coronavirus restrictions have affected nearly every aspect of everyone's lives and reality TV is no exception. Although shows had to initially halt all in-person filming, production teams quickly reassessed their protocols in order to continue making the shows we love in a way that was safe for the cast and crew. 

The Brown family from Sister Wives also had to figure out how to navigate social distancing and quarantining with their large, plural family. And as recent episodes show, it wasn’t an easy task to get on the same page. 

With so many family members, the Browns had all the more chances of someone getting infected and bringing the disease to the rest of the family, but with all the increased risk, did any of the Sister Wives get COVID?

The pandemic hasn’t been easy on anyone and the Brown family is no exception. 

Sunday, March 14’s episode saw Kody, Meri, Janelle, Christine, and Robyn confront the onset of the pandemic in the United States as well as the first identified case in Flagstaff, Arizona, where the family lives. 

Being a plural family with 18 members spread over four different households soon proved to be an obstacle as the Brown family figured out how to navigate social distancing and quarantining protocols. As Kody told cameras, “I guess right now my biggest worry really is if I would have to be isolated from members of my family long-term."

He continued to say, "In my mind, part of the healing process when you’re sick is that love and nurturing you get from your loved ones. I’m not going to not go care for a wife if she’s sick. I don’t want to not hug my kids.”

With Kody going from house to house, he was clearly the biggest threat in terms of bringing the virus home and spreading it through the Brown clan. 

But so far, as of this March 18 writing, no one from the Brown family seems to have been diagnosed with COVID-19. The family continued to live in separate houses, making the best of things despite the fact that “normal life ha[d] ceased.”

In March 14's episode, Janelle also had to make the tough call of asking her husband to temporarily stay away from visiting her household, as members of her family were still working outside the house and were “a risk point for exposure.”

In a recent Instagram post, Janelle also revealed that she had recently been diagnosed with non-malignant skin cancer for which she had required a small procedure. Janelle posted a picture of herself post-op, thanking fans for pointing out the blemish that had appeared above her lips in recent episodes.

What had appeared to be just a scar on Janelle’s upper lip turned out to be “a basal cell carcinoma, skin cancer, non-malignant, but it still needed to be removed.” The sister-wife concluded her post urging fans to get checked out by their doctors if they also develop unusual skin lesions. 

Watch Sister Wives every Sunday at 10 p.m. on TLC.