CLEVELAND — Moments after landing at Burke Lakefront Airport around 1:30 p.m. Thursday, President Donald Trump spoke about the news that Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has tested positive for COVID-19.
“I want to just say that a very good friend of mine just tested positive, do you know that? Our great governor, Governor of Ohio, DeWine, just tested positive, just here," President Trump told the crowd who gathered at the airport to welcome him. "And we want to wish him the best. He’ll be fine. I guess he’s going for a secondary test. I just said, ‘I look forward to seeing the governor.’ They said, ‘Sir, he just tested positive.’ But he’s a great guy. He’s done a fantastic job, and your Lt. Gov. Jon Husted is here someplace.”
Gov. DeWine was planning to be there to greet President Trump upon his arrival, but he left to return home after testing positive. His office says Gov. DeWine will quarantine for the next 14 days. He and his wife, Fran, are both expected to take another test. Lt. Gov. Husted, however, stayed at the event after testing negative.
President Trump also took a moment to address the COVID-19 pandemic as a whole.
“We’re very proud of what we’ve done," he said. "We’ve built the greatest economy in the history of the world, better than any other nation by far. Then the plague was released by China. Whether it was incompetent or other reasons, it got out. It didn’t get out to China, but it got out to the U.S., to Europe and to a lot of other countries, 188 countries. We will not forget that. We will not be forgetting that, but now we’re rebuilding. We closed it. We saved millions of lives, and now we’re reopening. We want our schools open. We want our buildings open, our office buildings open. We want to get back to business, and we’re doing it.”
President Trump's visit comes with a tour of the Whirlpool plant in Clyde before a campaign fundraiser at the Shoreby Club in Bratenahl.