Oregon Gov. Kate Brown tested negative for the disease caused by coronavirus, after she exhibited symptoms of possible illness including coughing into her elbow during a teleconference on Monday about the state’s efforts to obtain personal protective equipment for frontline workers.
When OPB asked the governor’s office about Brown’s health Monday, a press secretary told the public radio station the governor had not been tested for COVID-19 but was diagnosed by a doctor late last week as having a cold.
Her husband, Dan Little, had already been tested for COVID-19 “out of an abundance of caution" after showing “symptoms of a seasonal illness early last week,” press secretary Charles Boyle wrote in an email. “The test came back negative.”
Then Monday afternoon, also “out of an abundance of caution,” Brown’s personal physician arranged for her to receive a COVID-19 test. “That test came back negative,” Boyle wrote in an email. Brown’s negative test result was first reported by Willamette Week on Tuesday.
According to Boyle, the governor last appeared in public on March 20 and has stayed home “since she first exhibited symptoms of a cold.” Boyle said prior to that Brown was only working in-person with a small number of staff but it was unclear on what date the governor began limiting her contact with members of her administration. Brown’s chief of staff Nik Blosser told The Oregonian/OregonLive on March 20 that her staffers were working on a protocol to limit the governor’s potential exposure to coronavirus.
-- Hillary Borrud; hborrud@oregonian.com; @hborrud
This article was originally published by The Oregonian/OregonLive, one of more than a dozen news organizations throughout the state sharing their coverage of the novel coronavirus outbreak to help inform Oregonians about this evolving health issue.
