Oklahoma Gov. “Shocked” To Test Positive For COVID-19 Despite Not Wearing A Mask

Authored by nowthisnews.com and submitted by semaforic

President Donald Trump listens as Gov. Kevin Stitt (R-OK) speaks during a roundtable at the State Dining Room of the White House June 18, 2020 in Washington, DC. Trump held a roundtable discussion with governors and small business owners on the reopening of American’s small businesses a few weeks before Gov. Stitt tested positive for COVID-19. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, who recently attended President Trump’s Tulsa campaign rally and didn’t wear a mask, confirmed Wednesday that he has tested positive for COVID-19. He is the first U.S. governor to report a positive test.

“I was pretty shocked that I was the first governor to get it,” Stitt said at a press conference Wednesday. When asked if he regrets his choice to not wear a mask, he said, “I don’t really second guess anything.”

The majority of the 6,200 attendees at Trump’s June 20 Tulsa rally were not wearing masks. Tulsa World reported that Gov. Stitt and Oklahoma State Health Commissioner Lance Frye “said the event was too long ago” to have been the source of the governor’s infection, “adding that the exposure could have been at any point in the past two weeks.”

In the past two weeks, Stitt has met with Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Oklahoma tribal leaders, and several state officials without wearing a mask.

Oklahoma, like many states in the U.S., has seen a record rise in cases in recent weeks. State health officials reported “another single-day high for new COVID-19 cases” on Tuesday — 993 cases, bringing the state’s confirmed count since March to 21,738. In a press conference Wednesday, Stitt said he feels “fine” and that “it feels a little bit just like an achy cold.” More than 420 Oklahomans have died from COVID-19.

Related: 4 Months And 130,000+ U.S. Deaths Later, Trump Finally Puts On A Mask

“I’m not thinking about a mask mandate at all,” Stitt said Wednesday. The same day, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R ) announced a mask mandate for her state, as her state’s death toll grew to more than 1,100 from more than 56,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus.

As of July 15, 25 states now have mask mandates, as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

Tulsa World reported that June 30 was “the first time since the pandemic began” that Gov. Stitt wore a mask at a news conference. At the time, he asked Oklahomans to wear masks when they can’t social distance.

Stitt also said he believes there is “plenty of runway” with equipment and hospital bed capacity in Oklahoma. In neighboring Texas, hospitals are running out of “drugs, beds, ventilators and even staff,” according to the Texas Tribune. In Arizona and Florida, two of the states hit the hardest by coronavirus, the governors are also declining to issue mask mandates, and hospitals have reached capacity. Some mayors and county leaders are instituting mask mandates where governors are not.

“Do we have coronavirus in Oklahoma? Absolutely,” Stitt said Wednesday. But he added: “I don’t think Americans, and Oklahomans particularly, want to bunker in place for the next 24 months.”

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sureguy on July 18th, 2020 at 21:22 UTC »

If you read the article he's shocked he was "the first governor to get it", indicating that he's not surprised he got it, just that nobody else got it before him.

Wow.

hobbes_35 on July 18th, 2020 at 20:22 UTC »

That's the scariest part. These morons actually believe their own BS.

smartass1975 on July 18th, 2020 at 20:08 UTC »

Fucking idiot