Harvest Christian Fellowship Pastor Greg Laurie Tests Positive For COVID-19
RIVERSIDE (CBSLA) — Pastor Greg Laurie, head of the Riverside megachurch Harvest Christian Fellowship, has tested positive for COVID-19.
Laurie said he tested positive over the weekend in a video he posted to his Facebook page Monday. He had been at large prayer rally events in Washington, D.C. with Franklin Graham and Vice President Mike Pence over a week ago and was in attendance at the White House Rose Garden ceremony for the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Churches remain closed in Riverside County and Pastor Laurie has been doing services online in the meantime.
He said his wife, Cathe, is in quarantine with him, and the rest of his family has tested negative.
"My symptoms have been mild so far, and I expect to make a full recovery. I have always taken the Coronavirus seriously, and it has tragically taken many lives," Laurie said in the post.
The megachurch pastor said his symptoms started with fatigue, aches and pains, then progressed to a fever.
"I just wish at a time like this we could not politicize something like this, and show compassion to people and are struggling with this. It's real, it really is a pandemic that has swept our nation and even the world," he said.
Several people who have attended the Supreme Court nomination ceremony have tested positive for COVID-19, including President Donald Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, former top aide Kellyanne Conway, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, University of Notre Dame President John Jenkins, Senators Mike Lee of Utah and Thom Tillis of North Carolina and a White House reporter.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany announced Monday she had also tested positive. She was also among those who attended the Supreme Court nomination ceremony. According to reports, two of her deputies have also contracted COVID-19.