Ohio Governor warns against seeing COVID tests as unreliable after his conflicting results
Ohio State Mike DeWine warned Americans against perceivingĀ coronavirus tests as unreliable, days after he received a false-positive result.
- World News
- 2 min read
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On August 9 Governor of Ohio State Mike DeWine warned Americans against perceiving coronavirus tests as unreliable, days after he received a false positive result before a scheduled meeting with United States President Donald Trump. According to media reports Ohio Governor said he thinks what people should not take away from his experience is that testing is not reliable or doesn't work.
DeWine also added that the antigen test he took on August 6, which showed the false-positive results, should be taken as a screening test and that the PCR test, which he said over 1,300,000 Ohioans have taken is very reliable. He also added, āantigen tests are new and the companies that are coming out with antigen test kits, quite frankly have the burden of showing, you know, how good they areā.
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!
ā Governor Mike DeWine (@GovMikeDeWine) August 8, 2020
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Confusion over COVID-19 test results
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. āIām sure the Internet is lighting up with āWell, you can't believe any test,āā Mike DeWine said in a radio interview on August 7, after a whirlwind of events the day before when the initial positive showing forced the Republican to cancel a planned meeting with President Donald Trump.
Instead of seeing Trump at the Cleveland airport, Governor DeWine returned to this state capital for new testing with his wife, Fran, through Ohio State University's medical centre. They then went to their southwestern Ohio farm in Cedarville, where DeWine said he planned to quarantine for 14 days. But within hours, he had received Columbus test results that were negative. The first test, part of the protocol for people meeting with the president, was a rapid-result antigen test, while the Columbus testing was a genetic, laboratory test whose results are considered more reliable.