Fox News is practicing social distancing now after some hosts made light of the coronavirus outbreak

• After some opinion hosts made light of the coronavirus as late as last week, multi-host programs on Fox News are now practicing social distancing.
• Both The Five and Fox & Friends showed viewers how they're keeping hosts apart through a series of pan-outs on Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning, respectively.
• Jesse Watters, one of The Five's hosts, repented on camera for not taking the coronavirus and social distancing seriously last week.
• Former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson blasted the move on Twitter, saying "This is a joke. A network like @foxnews that has done nothing but promote Trump saying the #covid19 was a hoax and now they sit apart in a ploy to make it look like they are abiding by the @CDCgov recommendation. Give me a break."
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Fox News is making a point to have its anchors practice social distancing after some opinion hosts made light of the coronavirus last week.

Multi-host programs like The Five and Fox & Friends have dispersed their anchors far enough to be on different floors of the same studio, showing viewers the new measures in a series of pan-outs.

The Five made a point to highlight their social distancing on Monday, while Fox & Friends led Tuesday morning's show with Steve Doocy waving his papers from a desk a floor above co-hosts Brian Kilmeade and Ainsley Earhardt.

Jesse Watters, one of The Five's co-hosts and formerly the roving reporter on The O'Reilly Factor, admitted he "didn't take the social distancing that seriously" on Monday's show, alluding to how he mocked what he saw as an overreaction to the coronavirus on Fox News last week.

"I went out to dinner here in the city [last week]," Watters said. "And I woke up this morning I realized that was not the right move. I am no longer going out to dinner."

One segment on The Five last week was premised on how political correctness and an overreaction to the coronavirus was a bigger threat than the outbreak itself.

"The media is out of power in this administration," co-host Greg Gutfeld said on March 12, going on to say that the news media's focus on the outbreak and ensuing panic was "also a virus."

On Fox & Friends Tuesday morning, co-host Steve Doocy narrated the program's social distancing arrangement from the teleprompter.

"This morning, you know, the CDC guideline says you should be at least six feet apart," Doocy said. "Here on the curvy couch where I am, on the mezzanine level, usually we sit about 18 inches apart, but this morning, Ainsley is in what we refer to as the fish bowl area, Brian is there at the big plastic desk, and I'm up here on the curvy couch."

Fox opinion hosts like Laura Ingraham and Sean Hannity repeatedly downplayed the severity of the coronavirus last week, often echoing President Donald Trump's sentiments that the problem was overblown and soon to go away.

Ingraham encouraged her viewers to fly as airports thinned out from CDC warnings over non-essential travel, while Fox & Friends brought on Donald Trump Jr. to weigh in on the coronavirus.

Donald Trump Jr., the president's eldest son, used his appearance on the show to accuse Democrats of hoping the coronavirus "comes here and kills millions of people so that they can end Donald Trump's streak of winning."