Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak announced that he had tested positive for COVID-19 and would be cancelling all public events for the foreseeable future on Friday.
The governor’s office said that Sisolak received a positive result during a routine rapid test in Carson City, the state capital. Results from a PCR test, which are considered to be a more accurate diagnostic tool, are still pending. Sisolak was not experiencing symptoms, although he did have some fatigue earlier in the week that had been attributed to a busy work schedule.
“It is important to me to notify Nevadans as soon as possible of my positive COVID-19 test results,” Sisolak said in a statement obtained by Newsweek. “I am currently not experiencing any COVID-19 symptoms and I have returned to my residence to begin the quarantine and isolation process. Shortly after the test result came back, I underwent a disease investigation interview with the Carson City Health and Human Services.”
“With my case, I want to underscore the importance of Nevadans to stay at home as much as they possibly can at this point,” he added. “There were more than 1,800 new cases identified in Nevada yesterday and cases are growing at a rate of 1.3 percent or, 1,402 new cases per day.”
Close contacts and staff at Sisolak’s Carson City office, which the governor last visited on Thursday, have been placed in quarantine as a precaution under Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak speaks during a voter mobilization drive-in event in Las Vegas, Nevada on October 2, 2020. Ethan Miller/Getty