Former Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain has been hospitalized after testing positive for COVID-19, according to a statement posted to his Twitter account.
The statement said that Cain “developed symptoms serious enough” that required hospitalization, and he spent Wednesday night in an Atlanta-area hospital. As of Thursday, he did not require a respirator and is “awake and alert.”
We are sorry to announce that Herman Cain has tested positive for COVID-19, and is currently receiving treatment in an Atlanta-area hospital.
Please keep him, and all who are battling this virus, in your prayers.
Our full statement appears below. Updates to follow. pic.twitter.com/lDRW7Rla4e
— Herman Cain (@THEHermanCain) July 2, 2020
Although Cain’s statement said that “there is no way of knowing for sure how or where” he contracted the coronavirus, it’s worth noting that Cain posted a photo of himself at Trump’s Tulsa rally a couple weeks ago, which was held indoors and did not require face masks to be worn.
Here’s just a few of the #BlackVoicesForTrump at tonight’s rally! Having a fantastic time!#TulsaRally2020 #Trumptulsa #TulsaTrumprally #MAGA #Trump2020 #Trump2020Landslide pic.twitter.com/27mUzkg7kL
— Herman Cain (@THEHermanCain) June 20, 2020
Responding to Cain’s hospitalization after testing positive for COVID-19, Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh said in a statement that “contact tracing was conducted after the Tulsa rally but we do not comment regarding the medical information of individuals.”
Murtaugh also denied that Cain met with the President at the Tulsa rally.
Editor of HermanCain.com Dan Calabrese said in a post that he’s “confident” that Cain “will be fine” but that staffers at his site “honestly have no idea where he contracted it.”
“I realize people will speculate about the Tulsa rally, but Herman did a lot of traveling the past week, including to Arizona where cases are spiking,” Calabrese wrote. “I don’t think there’s any way to trace this to the one specific contact that caused him to be infected. We’ll never know.”
The 74-year-old former pizza restaurant executive was previously diagnosed with colon cancer in 2006, but beat the odds upon becoming cancer-free in 2011. His previous history with cancer puts him at higher risk of contracting COVID-19.
Last year, President Trump nominated Cain to serve on the Federal Reserve Board, saying that Cain is “a very terrific man, a terrific person.”
Cain’s nomination, however, was met with controversy when he was accused by at least two women of sexual harassment during his time leading the National Restaurant Association, which paid out settlements to the women.
After denying the harassment allegation, Cain said he withdrew his name from consideration for the Fed position because the $183,100 salary would amount to a pay cut.
