Not to fret, however: White's absence from this week's episodes isn't indicative of a permanent change. White merely missed a day of filming back in August as she recovered from COVID-19, which means she called in sick for five episodes of the show.
Addressing White's absence at the beginning of Monday's episode, Sajak said, "You'll notice Vanna is not here, and I have to say that Ms. White has tested positive for COVID. That's the bad news. The good news is I talked to her just a little while ago and she feels fine. She has a little sniffle. But she tested positive and that's the way it goes, so she will not be with us here this week.
EW has learned that since teachers had already arrived to film the episodes in Los Angeles over the summer, the Teacher's Week episodes could not be rescheduled. However, later episodes that were scheduled to film the next day were rescheduled for a later date, allowing White time to recover.at the end of season 41, which kicked off last month. "It's been a wonderful ride," he said at the time.