Roker’s daughter, Leila Roker, married her longtime partner in Paris on Mother’s Day.

Al Roker asked by CDC to test on his way home from daughter’s wedding amid hantavirus outbreak

Roker's daughter, Leila Roker, married her longtime partner in Paris on Mother's Day.

By Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman is a news writer for with previous work in MUBI Notebook, Slant, and the LA Review of Books.

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May 12, 2026 11:08 p.m. ET

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Al Roker and his daughter, Leila Roker, in 2016. Credit:

Mireya Acierto/FilmMagic

- Al Roker says he was asked to undergo voluntary testing by the CDC after returning from his daughter's wedding in Europe.

- "They didn't say for what, so I just wonder if it was a precaution here," Roker said on Tuesday's *Today*.

- Roker's story comes amid a hantavirus outbreak that originated aboard the cruise ship MV Hondius.

Fears of a new pandemic amid the troubling hantavirus outbreak found Al Roker on the wind-down from a happy occasion.

"I was coming from Europe this weekend from my daughter's wedding, and the CDC was asking people to voluntarily test," Roker revealed on a segment of Tuesday's *Today*. "But they didn't say for what, so I just wonder if it was a precaution here."

Roker's revelation comes amid the widely publicized outbreak of the rodent-borne hantavirus aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship, which killed three passengers and has infected five more.

Leila Roker and Sylvain Gricourt in 2025.

Leila Roker/Instagram

According to the CDC, hantavirus is contracted when humans come into contact with rodents like rats and mice. The virus can transmit via bite or scratch, but is more frequent when individuals are exposed to rodent urine, droppings, or saliva. The virus can cause two conditions — hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS), and hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS).

So far, casualties from the recent hantavirus outbreak include a Dutch couple and a German national. Of the five passengers who have tested positive, one is in intensive care. The ship, which was cruising the Atlantic, docked in the Canary Islands on May 9, with passengers being evacuated via military and government planes.

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Leila Roker, 27, was married in Paris on Mother's Day.

"We have to do a small ceremony in France because she lives in Paris," Leila's mother, Deborah Roberts, explained in October. "They have to do something small there, and I said, 'Let's keep it teeny tiny' — and then she wants to come home."

Leila announced her engagement to Sylvain Gricourt 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.

Proud papa Roker had to share the happy news with his own followers, writing in the caption of his own announcement, "Well, it is now official. [Sylvain Gricourt] has proposed to my little girl, [Leila Roker] in the romantic city of Venice. We could not be happier, and look forward to planning for these two wonderful young folks coming together."

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