COLUMBUS, Ohio — Gov. Mike DeWine said that he and first lady Fran DeWine boarded Air Force One when President Donald Trump, who announced overnight that he tested positive for COVID-19, visited the Dayton area for a rally on Sept. 21. A previous version of this story indicated that the meeting took place in Cleveland, but the governor's spokesperson confirmed the Dayton location with News 5.
When asked about Trump's rallies that were held in Ohio last week, which fall under the 14-day time frame of COVID-19 exposure, DeWine said that he and his wife both were wearing masks as they walked through the airplane and while they were inside of the president’s cabin.
While the governor and the first lady were wearing masks during their visit, DeWine said that Trump was not wearing a mask as far as he recalls.
DeWine was not clear if he was referring to the landing of Air Force One for the rallies in Ohio last week or when it landed in Cleveland for the first presidential debate on Tuesday.
During the debate, Trump mocked opponent Joe Biden for wearing a mask in public regularly.
“I don’t wear masks like him,” Trump said, speaking of Biden. “Every time you see him, he’s got a mask. He could be speaking 200 feet away from me, and he shows up with the biggest mask I’ve ever seen.”
DeWine said he and Fran felt they should be tested today after hearing that Trump and first lady Melania Trump had both tested positive for COVID-19. On Friday evening their test results came back negative, DeWine said.
White House aide Hope Hicks, who tested positive for the virus on Thursday, was part of a large entourage that traveled on Air Force One to Cleveland for the debate. She also joined Trump on a trip to attend a fundraiser in Minnesota the next day and began feeling unwell and tested positive just one day after that.
DeWine said that this has served as a "powerful reminder" to him and his family, as well as all Ohioans, that "we have to do the basic things—we have to wear a mask, we have to social distance, we have to be careful, we have to avoid big crowds."
"The president of the United States can get this, the first lady can get this, we can get it, too, and we just have to be very, very careful," DeWine said.
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