Al Roker talks CDC encounter after daughter's wedding in France

Amid hantavirus concerns, "Today" weatherman Al Roker says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently asked travelers to voluntarily test while he was on the way home from his daughter Leila's wedding.

Roker shared the tidbit on the "Today" show on May 12. "I was coming from Europe this weekend from my daughter's wedding, and the CDC was asking people to voluntarily test," he said, according to People magazine. "But they didn't say for what, so I just wonder if it was a precaution here."

Eighteen Americans are being monitored after a deadly hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship. World Health Organization Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on May 12 that there have been 11 confirmed or suspected hantavirus cases tied to the MV Hondius outbreak, including three people who have died. Adm. Brian Christine, assistant secretary at the Department of Health and Human Services, said the risk to the rest of the country is low.

"At the moment there is no sign that we are seeing the start of a larger outbreak," Ghebreyesus said. "But of course the situation could change and given the long incubation period of the virus it's possible we might see more cases in the coming weeks."

According to the CDC, "people get hantavirus from contact with rodents like rats and mice, especially when exposed to their urine, droppings, and saliva." The Andes virus, a kind of hantavirus spread in South America, is "the only type of hantavirus that is known to spread person-to-person," and the spread is "usually limited to people who have close contact with a sick person," per the CDC. Early symptoms can include fatigue, fever and muscle aches.

Al Roker daughter Leila gets married in France wedding

Roker's daughter Leila, who the weatherman shares with his wife Deborah Roberts, announced her engagement in March 2025. "8 years ago, I moved to Paris 🇫🇷, 7 years ago I met my person and best friend 💖, and 2 days ago, that person took me on the most amazing surprise trip to Venice 🇮🇹 to ask me to spend the rest of our lives together 💍," she wrote on Instagram.

At the time, Roker posted that he "could not be happier" and looked forward to "planning for these two wonderful young folks coming together."

On "Live with Kelly and Mark" last year, Roberts said Leila would have two wedding ceremonies: one in France, where she lives, and one in the United States.

Earlier this month, Roker told Swoon his daughter's wedding was scheduled for the weekend of Mother's Day. "That's kind of her Mother's Day gift, I guess," he said.

Roker also shares a son, Nick, with Roberts, and he has another daughter, Courtney, from his previous marriage to Alice Bell.

Contributing: Sara Moniuszko, Melina Khan, Eve Chen, Natalie Neysa Alund and Mary Walrath-Holdridge, USA TODAY