Kansas Gov. Kelly negative for COVID-19; House speaker slammed for handling of diagnosis

Gov. Laura Kelly tested negative for the coronavirus on Friday, a day after House Speaker Ron Ryckman disclosed that he attended a meeting with the governor in late July after being hospitalized following a positive test.

Kelly was tested after Ryckman told House Republicans on Thursday that he had been admitted for a week in mid-July following a positive test for COVID-19 around July 13.

Kelly spokesman Sam Coleman said the governor tested negative.

Ryckman participated in a July 29 meeting of the State Finance Council chaired by the governor. Kelly called his decision to attend without sharing his diagnosis “reckless and dangerous.”

Ryckman said he was cleared by a doctor and tested negative before attending the meeting. On Thursday night, he also said in a statement that in July “I informed everyone I came into contact with of my diagnosis.”

But Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, a Topeka Democrat, said Friday that wasn’t true because Ryckman attended a Legislative Coordinating Council meeting on July 9, the day before he began self-isolating.

“Not only did he never bother to tell me after July 10 about his diagnosis, he wasn’t even wearing a mask in the meeting,” Hensley said in a statement.

Eric Turek, a spokesman for Ryckman, didn’t immediately comment.

Ryckman said Thursday he followed all guidelines from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. The guidance calls for anyone with a lab-confirmed case to remain in isolation for 10 days after the onset of symptoms or 72 hours after the individual no longer has a fever (without the use of fever-reducing medicine) and there has been a significant improvement in symptoms—whichever is longer.

The KDHE guidelines largely match recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC recommendations also say that a limited number of people with severe illness may still be able to transmit the virus after 10 days.

Ryckman said he isolated for 16 days after the start of symptoms.

“So if you come into the hospital, you need oxygen. Let’s say you go home and you aren’t needing oxygen, that’s a significant improvement,” Dana Hawkinson, medical director of infectious prevention and control at the University of Kansas Health System, said during a virtual news conference Friday.

Hawkinson, who was speaking generally, emphasized that people who fit into that category still need to take precautions like mask wearing and social distancing.

This story was originally published August 7, 2020 at 4:44 PM.