Gov. Mike DeWine has now tested negative for coronavirus, after a rapid test administered by the White House before a planned meeting with President Trump came back positive. He'll being tested again on Saturday.
The 73 year old DeWine and Lt. Gov. Jon Husted were to greet Trump as he arrived for a fundraiser and tour of a washing machine plant in northeast Ohio. Husted tested negative. In a video press conference after his positive result, DeWine said he had a headache, but that’s it.
“But I get a lot of headaches throughout my life so a headache is not anything that unusual. Besides that, I feel well," DeWine said.
He was tested again in Columbus, along with his wife and staff members. All came back negative.
DeWine, who has asthma, has held his COVID press conferences away from reporters to avoid contact with crowds. He issued a statewide mask mandate two weeks ago.
DeWine's cell phone number was recently posted on social media. After his first positive test, DeWine said he'd received a lot of texts from critics of his mask mandate.
“That's not the lesson that should come from this," DeWine said. "The lesson that should come from this is we’re all human, this virus is everywhere, this virus is very tough and yes, you can contract it even when you’re being very, very careful and even when you’re wearing a mask."
DeWine said Thursday afternoon that he would quarantine at his home in Cedarville. He had cancelled Thursday’s press briefing for the Trump event – no word on whether he’ll do the one scheduled for Friday.
“As of right now, I’ve had three tests – two today and that one that we did that we did publicly [in a live press conference on June 23]. That was it. I mean, I had no symptoms, I had no indication that, no reason to think I had COVID-19 so I’ve not done any other testing," DeWine said.
As of today, there were more than 92,000 confirmed case of COVID-19 in Ohio and 3,348 confirmed deaths.