Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine acknowledges members of the media while entering his residence after testing positive for COVID-19 earlier in the day Aug. 6, 2020, in Bexley, Ohio.The Ohio governor’s positive, then negative, tests for COVID-19 have provided fuel for skeptics of government pandemic mandates and critics of his often-aggressive polices.
The conflicting results come as Americans have grown frustrated about access to testing and by slow results. Ohioans also remain divided over DeWine’s actions to deal with the pandemic, with some saying his early shutdown actions unnecessarily damaged businesses. He was an early advocate of wearing masks to stop the COVID-19 spread even as other Republicans in Ohio remain unconvinced.
DeWine said he received some “not so nice” texts during the day Thursday about wearing masks. He reasserted Friday that while they might not be 100% effective, they do help prevent spread and have been made a noticeable difference in the state’s most-populated cities.DeWine, 73, a former U.S. senator and House member who is in his first term as governor, at first appeared to have been only the second U.S. governor to positive for the coronavirus.Oklahoma Gov.
The number of positive cases in Ohio had decreased after the first surge, hitting a low in late May. But numbers again began to rise in mid-June as Ohio began to reopen businesses.