Oklahoma governor tests positive for coronavirus as US cases surge
TEXAS (Reuters) - Oklahoma’s governor said he was diagnosed with COVID-19 on Wednesday, becoming one of the highest elected US politicians to test positive for the disease, as new coronavirus infections in his state and neighboring Texas surged by record numbers for a second straight day.
Texas, where the tally of known infections jumped by an all-time high of 10,791 cases statewide during the past 24 hours, also reported a record 110 additional COVID-19 deaths, its fourth such daily benchmark this month.
But Oklahoma, which reported a daily record of 1,075 cases, became a focal point of the resurgent coronavirus outbreak after its governor, Kevin Stitt, announced he had tested positive.
Stitt, a Republican who attended President Donald Trump’s campaign rally in Tulsa nearly three weeks ago, had faced a backlash in recent days after posting a photo on Twitter showing himself and two of his children at a crowded restaurant, even as state health authorities urged social distancing.
“I got tested yesterday for COVID-19, and the results came back positive,” Stitt, 47, said in a video conference call with reporters. “I feel fine, really, I mean you might say I’m asymptomatic or just slightly kind of a little bit achy.”
Stitt is one of a number of elected leaders infected since the novel coronavirus arrived in the United States this year. Others include US Senator Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican, and about a half-dozen members of the US House of Representatives from both parties.
Stitt’s diagnosis comes amid an upswing in COVID-19 cases across the American South and West after state and local officials started loosening economic and social restrictions aimed at slowing the spread of the virus. Across the country, new cases have been averaging around 60,000 a day.
Twenty-eight states have registered record daily increases in cases this month, many of them more than once, and 11 states have reported a greater number of deaths for a single day than ever before.
Moreover, the rate of people testing positive among all those who are screened has exceeded 5% - a level above which health experts say is concerning - and was trending upward in some two dozen states over the past two weeks, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University.
Arizona has registered the highest positivity rate, with nearly a quarter of everyone tested statewide found to be infected, followed by Florida at nearly 19%, South Carolina at 18% and Texas and Alabama each at 17%.