On April 15, DeWine’s office announced on Twitter, “Today, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine announced that he has been diagnosed with COVID-19 by his personal physician. Governor DeWine has been experiencing mild symptoms such as a runny nose, headache, body aches, and a sore throat.”
DeWine received a monoclonal antibody treatment that evening and was in quarantine at his Cedarville farmhouse in southwest Ohio.
Originally, Fran DeWine tested negative, but on April 18 she was diagnosed with COVID-19 by her personal physician. She also received a monoclonal antibody treatment.
Mike DeWine is 75, while Ohio’s First Lady is 74.
The couple is fully vaccinated and has received the two-dose inoculation and a booster shot.
In a televised address on May 12, 2021, DeWine told Ohioans that they cannot get or transmit COVID-19 if they get vaccinated.
“Now while we have this great weapon, the danger of remaining un-vaccinated is crystal clear. The virus is still here,” DeWine said in his broadcast.
“Now our cases are down, but that’s only because 42 percent of our entire population has now been vaccinated. And those individuals who are vaccinated can no longer get the virus and could no longer spread it. The vaccinated among us feel liberated.”
Fran DeWine is experiencing mild symptoms, Gov. DeWine’s spokesman Dan Tierney said on April 18.
Gov. DeWine’s symptoms remain the same and he has continued to work from home, Tierney added.
Gov. DeWine also tested positive for the COVID-19 on August 6, 2020, right before he was slated to greet then-president Donald Trump in Cleveland.
“As part of the standard protocol to greet President Trump on the tarmac in Cleveland, I took a COVID test. I tested positive,” DeWine wrote on the afternoon of August 6, 2020. “I have no symptoms at this time. I’m following protocol and will quarantine at home for the next 14 days.”
May Not Attend ‘Save America’ Rally
Trump is scheduled to appear at a “Save America” rally at the Delaware County Fairgrounds in central Ohio on April 23. It is unclear if DeWine will attend.A day before testing positive, DeWine said he made a commitment to appear at the kickoff of former president Ulysses S. Grant’s 200th birthday party, which is scheduled for 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. in New Richmond in southern Ohio.
Trump is slated to speak that night at 7 o’clock.
The Delaware County Fairgrounds is around a 2 ½ hour drive from New Richmond.
“So we'll have to kind of see if that works out,” DeWine said on April 14.
DeWine’s reluctance to attend the April 23 rally could relate to 2020, when he was booed at multiple Trump campaign events in Ohio.
Days after the presidential election in November 2020, Trump tweeted, “Who will be running for Governor of the Great State of Ohio? Will be hotly contested!”
DeWine has drawn widespread criticism from Ohioans for his response to the COVID-19 crisis, which included mask mandates and business closures.
The longtime politician is seeking re-election and is opposed by former Congressman Jim Renacci, farmer and restaurant owner Joe Blystone, and former state legislator Ron Hood in the May 3 GOP primary.
Renacci, who said DeWine has governed Ohio like a Democrat, was endorsed by Trump when he ran for U.S. Senate in 2018. Renacci won the primary but lost to Sen. Sherrod Brown in the general election.
Last week, Trump endorsed J.D. Vance in the Ohio GOP U.S. Senate primary, but he has not publicly backed a gubernatorial candidate in the state.
