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DeWine Tested Again For COVID-19 Saturday And Is Found Negative

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, left, and his wife Fran, walk into their residence after he tested positive for COVID-19 Thursday. He tested negative later Thursday and again Saturday.  [Jay LaPrete / AP]
Gov. Mike DeWine, wearing a mask and giving a thumbs up with his wife, Fran, behind him.

Updated Saturday, Aug. 8, at 4:20 p.m.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and his wife, Fran, both tested negative Saturday for COVID-19, according to a statement from the governor's office released Saturday afternoon.

This is the second negative test for the governor after he had tested positive prior to a planned visit with President Donald Trump on Thursday.

The positive result early Thursday was the result of an antigen test, often called a “rapid test,” administered on the governor's way to greeting the president at Burke Lakefront Airport.

Later Thursday, a more sensitive test, called a PCR (polymerise chain reaction) test, was administered in Columbus returned negative for the governor, his wife and those in his inner circle. It's the same kind of test used more than 1.6 million times during the pandemic by Ohio hospitals, according to a press release from DeWine’s office.

The test Saturday, arranged out of an "abundance of caution" according to the governor's office, also was a PCR test and was administered, as the negative test Thursday was, by The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.

“We will be working with the manufacturer to have a better understanding of how the discrepancy between these two tests could have occurred,” the governo's office said in a statement Thursday.

This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.