Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine on Sunday sought to trust Americans about the effectiveness of coronavirus testing after testing positive for coronavirus last week before meeting with President Trump – and then testing negative hours later.
He told CNN’s Sunday ‘State of the Union’ that the antigen test he was taking, intended to get a quick result, is not the test that most Americans get – a PCR test – that what he said is “very, very, very” accurate.
“What people should not take from my experience is that testing is not reliable or does not really work,” DeWine said. “What I took was an antigen test, which really should be seen as a screening test. 1.3 million Ohioans have taken a PCR test. That test is very, very, very reliable, and so is the diagnostic test, that is. the test we used in Ohio. The antigen test is fairly new. “
OHIO GOV DEWINE TESTS NEGATIVE FOR COVID-19 OVER TESTING POSITIVE
DeWine said he plans to move forward with an initiative, collaborate with other states, that would include procurement and use of antigen tests – but that they would be cautious in how they deploy the antigen tests.
“All we have done is say, ‘Let’s group together, put our purchasing power together, not only potentially for antigen testing, but maybe for other things as well.’ That we take this one step at a time,” DeWine said. “If anyone needed an alarm about antigens, how careful you should be, we certainly saw that with my test. We will be very careful in how we use it.”
DeWine also said he wants more federal funding for his state to help build Ohio’s coronavirus testing and contact tracing system.
“We’ve doubled our tests in the last four weeks. We need to double it again, then double it again,” DeWine said. “That will not be cheap to do.”
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The Republican governor also expressed confidence in the vote by mail, saying Ohio has long used absentee ballots when asked about Trump’s efforts to oppose states that use universal post-in-votes in an attempt to limit election-related coronavirus risk.
“We have long experience in voting by mail,” DeWine said. His state sends all voters requests to get absentee ballots, not really absent votes, as many other states are. “Voice department has worked very well in Ohio … I’m comfortable, you always have to worry about fraud. You have to wait. We have a great Secretary of State, Frank LaRose.”
“It will work,” DeWine added.
