Gov. DeWine, first lady and staff test negative in second COVID-19 test

COLUMBUS — Gov. Mike DeWine has tested negative after a second COVID-19 test was administered Thursday afternoon.

According to the tweet, first lady Fran DeWine and staff members have also tested negative.

A PCR test was administered to DeWine and members of his staff Thursday afternoon. The PCR test looks for the specific RNA for the SARS CoV-2 -- in other words, the genetic material specific for the virus that causes COVID-19.

This test is known to be extremely sensitive, as well as specific, for the virus, the governor’s office said. The PCR tests for the governor, first lady, and staff were run two times. They came back negative the first time and came back negative when they were run on a second diagnostic platform.

“We feel confident in the results from Wexner Medical Center,” the governor’s office said Thursday night. “This is the same PCR test that has been used over 1.6 million times in Ohio by hospitals and labs all over the state.”

The test administered this morning to the governor in Cleveland, as part of the protocol required to meet the president, was an antigen test, DeWine’s office said.

“These tests represent an exciting new technology to reduce the cost and improve the turnaround time for COVID-19 testing, but they are quite new, and we do not have much experience with them here in Ohio. We will be working with the manufacturer to have a better understanding of how the discrepancy between these two tests could have occurred,” his office said.

Out of an abundance of caution, and at the direction of medical professionals, the governor and first lady plan on having another PCR test Saturday. The results of these tests will also be released.

PREVIOUS REPORT

Gov. Mike DeWine doesn’t know where he contracted the COVID-19 virus, said he feels fine and will continue his daily work leading the state.

“I don’t know where I got it,” the governor said from the front porch of his home in Cedarville. “Frankly we just can’t figure it out. We’re trying to wrack our brains and figure it out.”

DeWine is vowing to continue his daily duties.

“Anybody knows me, knows I will continue to do what I do,” he said, noting he spends most days at home in Cedarville anyway.

“So far, my work will not be impacted. We’ll see,” he said. DeWine said he starts most days at 6 a.m. and works until 8 at night. He said he feels fine, other than experiencing a headache. He also said he has had asthma since he was a teenager, but controls that will an inhaler.

Lt. Gov. Jon Husted, who was tested today as well, tested negative. DeWine said there’s no reason for him not to move forward.

“He has been intimately involved in everything we do. Everything’s just going to continue until some reason it cannot,” the governor said.

DeWine said he was surprised when he learned he tested positive. The test he took was arranged by the White House and he said he doesn’t know where they were because he was busy answering emails as he was being driven to Cleveland to meet with President Trump.

“It was a place where tests were occurring, public tests,” he said. “Frankly that’s all I know. I didn’t think much about it. Obviously, it’s a rapid test. I’m sure the White House can tell you what the test was.”

DeWine said the four or five people in his “bubble” (camera operator, staff, Ohio State Highway Patrol security, his wife Fran) have been tested today as well. All of them, the governor included, are awaiting results of a round of tests done after they left Cleveland.

He said he has not been tested regularly and believes there’s a lesson people should take from him contracting the virus.

“It’s ... nothing really new. It’s very contagious. It’s here. It lives among us,” he said.

Health care experts have said wearing a mask of facial covering should be done to improve your odds of not spreading or catching the virus.

“But that doesn’t mean you won’t get it,” the governor said. “There are no guarantees in life. I don’t think people should read a whole lot into this.”

About the comments he’s received via social media, DeWine said, “the lesson should be that we’re all human and the virus is everywhere. Your odds are dramatically better when you wear a mask. There are some things that are out of our control. I kinda go back to what Fran says, ‘God helps those who help themselves.

“There’s noting certain in life. It’s not... There’s just no guarantees in life,” DeWine said.

FIRST REPORT

Gov. Mike DeWine has tested positive for coronavirus, according to the Governor’s Office.

DeWine, from his porch at his home in Cedarville, told reporters he had a headache, but was happy to be home. DeWine said he found out about his results around 11 a.m. and he was “surprised.”

“Today, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine took a test for COVID-19 as part of the standard protocol to greet President Donald Trump on the tarmac at Burke Lakefront Airport in Cleveland,” the Governor’s Office said. “Governor DeWine has no symptoms at the present time.”

>> What to know about Governor Mike DeWine

The governor and first lady Fran DeWine, who also has no symptoms, are both returning to Columbus and both will be tested.

The president, who is visiting Northeast Ohio today, commented about DeWine’s positive test.

“We want to wish him the best,” Trump said. “He’ll be OK...he’s a great guy.”

DeWine and his wife plan to follow protocol and quarantine at his home in Cedarville for 14 days.

Lt. Gov. Jon Husted also took a COVID-19 test as part of the protocol to greet the president and he tested negative.

Cox Media Group