Jon Huntsman Says He Tested Positive For COVID-19
Jun 10, 2020, 9:15 AM | Updated: 9:46 pm
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Jon Huntsman reported that he has tested positive for COVID-19.
“I’ve tried to keep you posted as I’ve been in quarantine. Well that status has shifted and I’m now in isolation”, Huntsman said in a video released to the media early Wednesday.
It was the second test he’d taken after he received the wrong results from a previous test.
“After a second try, test results came back positive for COVID-19,” Huntsman wrote in a tweet. “… like so many others, my goal is to keep my family safe. Though isolated temporarily, we’ve never been more energized in this important race for Governor.”
After a second try, test results came back positive for Covid-19. Have been experiencing classic symptoms..like so many others, my goal is to keep my family safe. Though isolated temporarily, we’ve never been more energized in this important race for Governor. The work goes on!
— Jon Huntsman (@JonHuntsman) June 10, 2020
On Monday, the former Utah governor and current Utah gubernatorial candidate tweeted that the Salt Lake Health Department informed him they’d given him the wrong results. He said he’s still waiting on his results from a test on June 6.
It’s “very illuminating to see the process firsthand,” he wrote.
Received a call from @saltlakehealth saying they had given me wrong results. Still awaiting my results from COVID-19 test last Friday. No word on family members either. Very illuminating to see the process firsthand. #utpol @UtahCoronavirus
— Jon Huntsman (@JonHuntsman) June 9, 2020
On Friday, his campaign announced a staffer had tested positive, and Huntsman would stop making public appearances while he awaited his own test results. The campaign on Monday announced his results had come back negative even as two additional staffers had tested positive for the virus.
His running mate, Provo Mayor Michelle Kaufusi, tested negative the previous week.
Nicholas Rupp with the Salt Lake County Health Department said he’s not aware of this sort of mistake ever happening before, “While mix-ups are exceedingly rare, we are all human and many of us in public health are working 70-80 hours a week. And humans are occasionally prone to errors.”
Huntsman’s announcement regarding the incorrect results came just before the Utah Department of Health released the latest case numbers.
The state’s COVID-19 numbers spiked on May 28, and the daily count has reached 200 or more every day since, with an all-time high of 557 cases on June 5. As of Tuesday, a total of 12,559 Utahns had tested positive for the coronavirus, 931 of them had to be hospitalized, and 127 total patients had died.
