South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) says she tested negative for the coronavirus after coming in contact with Kimberly Guilfoyle, a Trump campaign official who tested positive, and then flying with President Trump aboard Air Force One.
“I’ve always taken #COVID19 very seriously, but South Dakota trusted our citizens to exercise their personal responsibility to keep themselves and their loved-ones safe,” Noem tweeted.
“I tested negative on Friday before meeting @realDonaldTrump. I tested negative again today.”
Noem was asked on Fox News Tuesday about her flight on Air Force One on Friday after reportedly having close interactions with Guilfoyle, the girlfriend of Donald Trump Jr.
The governor noted she also tested negative before meeting with the campaign last week and again after the meeting.
“I was tested again today, which came back negative again,” Noem said. “So I appreciated the opportunity to spend time talking about the issues that were important to South Dakota in my time with [Interior] Secretary [David] Bernhardt and with the president, and look forward to bringing more solutions to my state.”
Noem said Guilfoyle was asymptomatic “and the science of the virus tells us that it’s very, very difficult to spread the virus when you’re asymptomatic.”
A study published Monday by the National Academy of Sciences estimates that presymptomatic and asymptomatic cases account for 48 percent and 3.4 percent of virus transmissions, respectively, making “silent transmission” a main factor in outbreaks.