Updated: February 6, 2013 10:00 AM | By The Associated Press, thecanadianpress.com

Walters hopes to return to 'The View' in 3 weeks

FILE - This June 23, 2012 file photo shows Barbara Walters presenting an award onstage at the 39th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards in Beverly Hills, Calif. Walters, who has been battling the Chicken Pox, will not return to her daytime talk show "The View," for three more weeks. She was hospitalized on Jan. 19 after fainting and cutting her head at a pre-inaugural party in Washington. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, file)

NEW YORK, N.Y. - Barbara Walters isn't "scratching too much" from chickenpox, but she says she won't be back at "The View" for three more weeks.

Walters phoned into the ABC talk show Wednesday. Calling from her home, she reported that she's weak but not in any pain.

She was hospitalized on Jan. 19 after fainting and cutting her head at a party in Washington. The 83-year-old has said she had the chickenpox and a temperature at the time, but didn't realize it. She suffered a concussion and got six stitches. She was released 10 days later.

She announced Wednesday: "I'm not itching away."

Then she marveled that the best remedy for itching is an age-old one, saying: "We have Facebook, Twitter and calamine lotion."