Gov. Mike DeWine tested negative for coronavirus in a third test on Saturday, after a positive rapid result in a test arranged by the White House Thursday and a negative result from a different kind of test a few hours later.
After getting both a positive result in Cleveland before a planned meeting with President Trump and then a negative test at Ohio State's Wexner Medical Center in Columbus a few hours later, DeWine announced he'd take another test on Saturday to confirm. That test came back negative.
Today, Fran and I were tested again for #COVID19. @OSUWexMed administered the PCR tests, and the results for both tests were negative. Thank you to everyone who sent along good wishes for our family and staff! We're #InThisTogetherOhio!— Governor Mike DeWine (@GovMikeDeWine) August 8, 2020
DeWine explained on CNN’s State of the Union that the first test was a ra.pid antigen test and the second and third tests he got – which were both negative – were the more accurate PCR test.
“That's the test that we have been using in Ohio. The antigen tests are fairly new. And the companies that are coming out with them, quite frankly, have the burden of showing, you know, how good they are," DeWine told CNN's Dana Bash.
DeWine said after this, he and the other governors in an eight-state compact haven’t decided whether they’ll buy antigen tests, but that they intend to use purchasing power to get buy tests and maybe other things as well.
DeWine also says he’s looking at the pandemic related executive orders signed over the weekend by President Trump.
Though there are questions about the constitutionality of those orders, DeWine – who is Ohio’s former attorney general – said Trump is in a difficult situation.
“He's got a blunt instrument. And that's the executive order. He's trying to do something. He's trying to move the ball forward. But I think it's -- what happen -- what really needs to happen is, Congress needs to get back in and negotiate," DeWine said.
DeWine said the state is looking at whether it can pay $100 of $400 in unemployment benefits in one of Trump’s orders, but says he’s hoping for what he calls a middle ground compromise that would give people extra money to return to work. Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) is among those pushing for such a plan.
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