LAS VEGAS (AP) - Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak said Monday he’s only experiencing mild head congestion since he was diagnosed with COVID-19 late last week.
The Democratic governor said in a statement that he remains in good spirits and appreciates the support and well wishes and wanted to thank health officials who have been helping him since his test for the coronavirus came back positive on Friday.
The 66-year-old governor is isolating at the Governor’s Mansion in Carson City and is receiving daily monitoring by local health officials and check-ins from a local physician while continuing to work remotely with his staff and cabinet, his office said.
“My focus remains on addressing the record surge the State is currently experiencing and my administration continues to work around the clock to serve Nevadans through this ongoing pandemic,” Sisolak said.
Sisolak on Friday announced he received an initial positive result from a rapid test. He said Monday that a more sensitive-laboratory test also yielded a positive result.
The governor’s office did not immediately respond to questions Monday about whether the governor or his doctors know how Sisolak contracted COVID-19 and whether anyone else in his office has tested positive.
The governor has not been in his Carson City office since Thursday and staff members who have been considered close contacts are quarantining.
Sisolak is the third person in his office to test positive for the virus. Two weeks ago, the governor’s office announced an unnamed Carson City-based staffer who had not been in close contact with Sisolak but had tested positive for the virus. In early October, Sisolak’s COVID-19 response director Caleb Cage also tested positive. The governor’s wife, Kathy Sisolak, tested negative for the virus on Friday.
The governor’s diagnosis comes as Nevada is seeing a spike in coronavirus cases. The governor has implored Nevadans to try to stay home and has promised to impose stricter measures next week if the spread of the virus is not contained.
Sisolak warned earlier this week that the state is seeing “alarming” trends of the virus climbing and threatened to impose stricter measures in two weeks if the spread of the virus does not decrease. He urged residents only to go out for essential activities, rely on take-out instead of dining in restaurants and to avoid spending time indoors with people from outside their households.
Nevada on Monday reported 1,913 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the cumulative total to 122,097 cases. Statewide, 1,917 people have died from the virus.
Sisolak is the fifth governor to report testing positive for the coronavirus this year. Three governors, two Republicans in Missouri and Oklahoma, and one Democrat in Virginia contracted COVID-19 this year. Ohio’s Republican Gov. Mike DeWine tested positive in August but received a negative test a few hours later. DeWine tested positive using a rapid test before testing negative later that day after using a laboratory-developed test.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.