Gov. Wolf twice tests negative for covid

Gov. Tom Wolf said Friday he tested negative for covid-19 for the second time since he received his diagnosis on Wednesday.

Wolf said he’s tested for the virus each Tuesday, and he tested positive during the routine test this week. Subsequent tests on Wednesday and Thursday evenings came back negative, he said.

The Department of Health’s state epidemiologist Dr. Sharon Watkins said the governor received a real-time PCR test, which she said “are considered the gold standard among tests for covid-19.”

She said the tests are very specific and sensitive and detect even small amounts of the virus. The fact that his positive test was followed by two negative tests could mean the governor “was at the end of his infectious period when the first test was conducted.”

Wolf has said he’s been asymptomatic and feeling well.

“I will continue to quarantine and carry out my duties to the commonwealth from home in the coming days,” Wolf said, citing state and federal health guidance.

His wife, Frances, tested negative for the virus on Thursday.

Lyndsay Kensinger, a spokeswoman for Wolf, said Wednesday that multiple members of the governor’s security detail have recently tested positive for the virus. She said Wolf has spent the past several months working mostly from home or from the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency in Harrisburg.

Wolf has said his test should be reminder that no one is immune.

“Even if you follow every precaution, which I have … there’s no guarantee against getting covid,” he said Thursday. “It’s just a reminder we all need to be working together now more than ever to protect one another and stay safe.”