WASHINGTON — Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, on Thursday before he was supposed to meet President Donald Trump for his arrival in Cleveland.
“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 in a statement. “Governor DeWine tested positive. Governor DeWine has no symptoms at the present time.”
The statement came out around the same time that Trump took off on Air Force One from Joint Base Andrews near Washington.
DeWine is returning to Columbus, where he and his wife, first lady Fran DeWine, who also has no symptoms, will both be tested, the statement said.
The governor then “plans to follow protocol for COVID-19 and quarantine at his home in Cedarville for the next 14 days,” it added. “Lt. Governor Jon Husted also took the COVID-19 test today as part of the protocol to greet the president. Lt. Governor tested negative.”
Trump is scheduled to deliver remarks on economic prosperity from Cleveland in the afternoon, tour the Whirlpool Corporation manufacturing plant in the town of Clyde, and participate in a fundraising committee reception in Bratenahl, Ohio.
A few weeks ago, the White House coronavirus task force warned that the number of COVID-19 cases in Columbus, Ohio, were significantly increasing. So far, there have been more than 96,000 positive cases and nearly 3,600 coronavirus deaths in the state.
