DeWine tests positive ahead of Trump visit
COLUMBUS, OHIO >> Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, an early advocate among Republicans of wearing masks and other pandemic precautions, tested positive Thursday for the coronavirus just ahead of a planned meeting with President Donald Trump.
The Republican governor said he took a test arranged by the White House in Cleveland as part of standard protocol before he was to meet Trump at an airport in Cleveland. He had planned to join the president on a visit to the Whirlpool Corp. plant in northwest Ohio.
Instead, he received the news he was positive, called his wife, Fran DeWine, and returned to central Ohio.
“A big surprise to me and certainly a big surprise to our family,” DeWine said at a late afternoon news conference broadcast from his porch on his farm in Cedarville in southwestern Ohio, where he plans to quarantine for 14 days. DeWine, 73, said he didn’t know how he contracted the coronavirus and that he’s already been spending much of his time at his farm, keeping his distance from family members and staff.
DeWine said he feels fine with no symptoms. His only health concern is asthma he’s had since he was a teenager, for which he uses an inhaler daily.
He said he’d already received some “not nice texts” Thursday from people claiming the news proves that mask-wearing is pointless. But his diagnosis should not lessen the importance of wearing a mask and practicing social distancing, DeWine said.
“The lesson that should come from this is that we’re all human, this virus is everywhere, this virus is very tough,” DeWine said.