Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak tests positive for COVID-19

CARSON CITY, Nev. — Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak on Friday said he has tested positive for COVID-19 as the virus surges to record levels in the state and across the U.S.

The 66-year-old Democrat 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 more sensitive laboratory-developed test.

Sisolak said he was not experiencing any symptoms on a call with reporters and was swabbed for a rapid test on Friday morning as a matter of routine. After it yielded a positive result, he also underwent molecular testing and his sample is still being processed.

“I’m a little tired, but I’ve been tired since March when we started fighting COVID,” Sisolak said. “I think this just puts a spotlight on the fact that you can take all the precautions that are possible and you can still contract the virus. I don’t know how I got it, but we’re going to quarantine and get through it.”

Sisolak is the third person in his office to test positive for the virus. Last week, 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.

Sisolak’s announcement comes on a day that Nevada reported 1,857 additional coronavirus cases, the highest single-day total since the start of the pandemic.

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Metz is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.