Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt said on Wednesday that he has COVID-19 – making him the first state leader in the country to announce that he has tested positive for coronavirus as the country experiences a surge in new cases.
Stitt, a Republican, told local media that at the moment his symptoms are minor and that he is self-isolating.
“I feel fine,” Stitt said, adding that he did feel a little achy. “I was pretty shocked that I was the first governor to get it.”
Stitt on Tuesday chaired a meeting of the Commissioners of the Land Office, which was attended by three of the commission’s five members and Republican Rep. Mark McBride. The governor did not wear a mask at the meeting, and a mandatory quarantine for those who attended has not yet been determined.
Stitt, who wore a mask at a press conference for the first time on June 30 and has since encouraged Oklahomans to wear one, attended President Trump’s rally in Tulsa last month. Very few people in the crowd of 6,200 people wore masks.
Both Stitt and state Health Commissioner Lance Frye, however, said the event was too long ago to have caused the governor to become infected and that Stitt probably caught the virus within the last two weeks.
State health officials on Tuesday announced that more than 1,000 more people tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday, setting a new record for the most cases reported in a single day in the state. The 993 new cases in the last 24 hours was more than the 10 days from June 1 to June 10, and also coincided with a spike in hospitalizations.
Overall, there are almost 22,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Oklahoma with the virus being responsible for 432 deaths, according to figures compiled by the state.
