Turns out Governor Mike DeWine is negative for COVID-19 after all.
Earlier in the day, DeWine announced that he’d tested positive for COVID-19. DeWine took the rapid-response test as a precaution to greet President Trump on his visit to Ohio today.
Governor DeWine said he showed no symptoms of the virus. The Governor returned to Columbus where he and his wife were administered the more accurate PCR test. The PCR test is tailored to look for genetic material specific to the virus.
Then he headed to Cedarville to quarantine with First Lady Fran DeWine at their Cedarville home for the next two weeks. Later in the evening the Governor announced he’d tested negative. He said two PCR tests were administered and both came back negative.
An Interesting Day
DeWine held a press conference on the front porch of his farm to discuss the diagnosis just before 5 pm. “This has been an interesting day for the DeWine family.”
DeWine went to Cleveland this morning to greet President Trump at the airport. The Governor was tested for COVID ahead of that meeting. DeWine said he was notified of a positive result when he arrived at the airport.
“It was a big surprise. Obviously, I could not greet the President. I called Fran.”
Mrs. DeWine and several people he works closely with were also tested for COVID-19. “It was not a rapid test, so we don’t have the results back yet.” The Governor was also re-tested. He said he was hoping for a false positive but assumed the test was correct.
DeWine said he felt fine but did have a headache.
He said he would continue to run the state for his Cedarville home. “I’ve been leading Ohio from this house since March.” DeWine said he’d only traveled to Columbus for press conferences. “This is the modern world and we can certainly do this. As long as I’m feeling okay, we’ll be okay in doing this.”
Doctors consider the Governor high-risk due to asthma and age. However, just after 10 pm, the Governor announced that the PCR test was negative.
COVID-19 Numbers
There have been 1,166 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours and 22 deaths. Current state numbers stand at:
- Total cases – 97,471
- Deaths – 3,618
- Recovered – 74,612
- Scioto County – 218
Red Alert
Ohio downgraded Scioto County from red status to orange last week. This comes despite an increase of 42 cases in the past seven days.
Factors involved in declaring a red alert include:
- Number of new cases based on the population of the county
- A sustained increase in cases
- Cases not coming from high-risk settings like nursing homes or jails
- Increase in ER visits for COVID symptoms
- Sustained Increase in Outpatient visits for COVID symptoms
- Increase in new COVID hospital admissions
- ICU occupancy rate goes above 80% for three days
The four Health Alert Levels are:
- Yellow – Level 1: Zero or one indicator have been flagged active spread exposure,
- Orange – Level 2 : Two or three indicators have been flagged, there is an increased risk for exposure and spread.
- Red- Level 3: Four or five indicators have been flagged, there is a very high risk for exposure and spread.
- Purple – Level 4: Six to seven indicators have been flagged, there is severe exposure and spread.
Red Counties
Fewer Ohio counties were in the red zone this week. Counties on red alert include:
- Mercer
- Allen
- Montgomery
- Franklin
- Fairfield
- Licking
- Marion
- Cuyahoga
- Medina
- Erie
- Lucas
The state downgraded Lawrence, Hamilton, Defiance, and Henry counties to orange.