Jon Huntsman shares video message following positive COVID-19 diagnosis

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, June 11, 2020 (Gephardt Daily) — Jon Huntsman has shared a video message on Twitter following his positive COVID-19 diagnosis.

The former Utah governor, and one time GOP presidential candidate said in the message: “Hey everybody, coming to you from my own little corner of the world; I’m isolated; I don’t have a lot of friends who come by to see me. Family members even run for cover if I open the door to the outside world, but that’s life with COVID-19. I’m not feeling great; I did some events this morning via Zoom and the strange thing about this is you don’t know what the next hour’s going to bring.

“It’s an unpredictable kind of illness. You might feel OK for an hour then the next hour it clobbers you with something else and mostly just downright fatigue and muscle aches and things like that. But I’m grateful that I know what it is, and my concerns go to those who are in families where they are just getting a diagnosis because I know how I felt yesterday when I knew it was positive, and I know how my family has felt for days with real uncertainty around whether they were infected or not. Gladly, no one else in the home is infected; they all came back negative. So my goal is to keep everybody that way, that’s the most important thing I can do.

“Message today is get up and vote. This is one of the greatest things we have as American citizens, and the citizens of this state is we have the right to get out and vote. And I think it’s an obligation to get out and vote. When you’ve lived in a place like Moscow or Beijing, I think you look at it differently, and never should anyone dismiss an election, I don’t care how local it might be; get out there and do your best to participate. I hope you find something to like about our campaign; if you do, take that ballot in the mail and get it sent in. You’ve got every day between now and the end of the month.”

Huntsman tweeted the news of his diagnosis Wednesday morning.

“After a second try, test results came back positive for COVID-19,” he tweeted. “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!”

Huntsman had tweeted Tuesday he was still awaiting his COVID-19 test results after being given the wrong results by health officials.

He said in a tweet late Tuesday morning: “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.”

A follow-up tweet a little before 5 p.m. Tuesday said: “Quick update on my COVID-19 test; have now been told the sample container with my test was opened and has been discarded by the state. En route now to take another test. Very grateful for our healthcare professionals who have a hugely demanding job. What a learning process.”

A staffer in Huntsman’s office told Gephardt Daily the earlier result he was given may have been from a test he took earlier this year.

A tweet and accompanying video from Huntsman Monday night said: “We are all concerned about the rising numbers of #COVID-19 cases in #Utah. Earlier today we had a fourth member of our campaign team test positive. I tested negative for the second time. Even though it is taking days to get testing results, our campaign is still moving forward.”

Huntsman added in his Monday video message: “I went in myself Friday night to get a test as did many members of my family. This was after our first colleague tested positive, late last week. I got the results back this morning, they are negative, we are still waiting on several other family members.”

He added: “Our campaign continues; we’ve never been more motivated or energized, even with the onset of these coronavirus cases, our concern first and foremost is for the safety and health and well-being of those terrific men and women who we work with in the campaign office. We are taking care of them, we are thinking about them and most importantly we are charging forward with great energy and enthusiasm.”

In a statement released late last week, Huntsman emphasized that the health of his staff members and the public are his primary concern. He said that his campaign is in the process of reaching out to anyone who might have been in contact with the infected staff members during the time individuals were potentially contagious.

The campaign’s headquarters was also being sanitized, according to the statement.

Gephardt Daily will have more on this developing story as information is made available.