By USA TODAY
The governor said he would not have been contagious before Saturday and had an asymptomatic case of the coronavirus before receiving his test results Tuesday evening.
Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt announced Wednesday he had tested positive for the coronavirus weeks after attending President Donald Trump’s rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he sat, bare-faced, among top state officials in a crowd of thousands.
“I’ll be taking precautions. I’ll be isolated away from my family. I’ll be working from home,” he said during an online press conference announcing his positive test results.
The governor said he would not have been contagious before Saturday and had an asymptomatic case of the coronavirus before receiving his test results Tuesday evening.
“I encourage Oklahomans to maybe get tested,” he said, especially if they weren’t feeling well.
The rally, held at Tulsa’s BOK Center on June 20, drew some 6,200 Trump attendees and was met with hundreds of protesters scattered around the city. Health experts warned against convening thousands of people inside the arena as cases across the state surged to record highs.
When asked whether he may have contracted the virus while attending Trump’s rally last month in Tulsa, where the governor was seen without a mask, Stitt said he thought it was “too long ago” for that to be the source of the spread.
Stitt said he didn’t think the virus could be dormant for that long “based on the science.”
“It’s too long ago. It wasn’t that,” said Oklahoma Commissioner of Health Lance Frye, adding it was “unknown” where the governor was infected.
Earlier this month Tulsa’s top health department official said that it was “more than likely” the large gatherings in the last few weeks – including Trump’s rally and protests – added to a record number of cases reported this week.
Stitt said that he was “pretty shocked” he was the first governor to test positive, adding that his wife and children have tested negative.
The Republican governor said residents need to “adjust our behavior a little bit,” but that he has no plans to implement a mask mandate.
“Across the state of Oklahoma, you’ve got different communities with different needs,” he said.
