After testing positive for COVID-19 on the eve of her northern Ontario tour, NDP Leader Andrea Horwath says her campaign to win the provincial election on June 2 will stay on track.

During an online news conference in Sault Ste. Marie on Thursday, Horwath’s digital facsimile appeared alongside the actual face of her party’s local candidate, Michele McCleave-Kennedy, as if all were business as usual.

Horwath said it feels as though she has “a bit of a bug: headache, sore throat — not really bad, though.”

She also said that having to campaign virtually won't disadvantage her.

“I think this campaign is more about people than it is about (Liberal Leader Steven) Del Duca or (Progressive Conservative Leader Doug) Ford being able to be out there physically," she said. "I think what this campaign is about is giving people hope."

Of the four party leaders who attended Monday’s debate at TVO’s studios — while standing less than two feet apart and not wearing masks during heated exchanges — two have tested positive.

While Horwath couldn't say for sure where she caught COVID, she said she hopes that "anybody who's seeking the premier's job is going to be responsible when it comes to their health and the obligation to prevent the spread of COVID-19."

READ MORE: Opposition leaders took their shots in final debate

Schreiner also said he hopes that going virtual won't bring his campaign's momentum to a halt. At an online event on Thursday, he said: "All of us in Ontario — every business, school, family, health-care provider — everyone has had to adapt and adjust, so we'll do that. And I'm confident that we'll be able to continue campaigning and building on the momentum we have."

Both Schreiner and Horwath have promised to self-isolate. Current public-health guidelines require symptomatic people who test positive to isolate for "at least five days," and another 24 hours if symptoms persist. Post-isolation, they must wear a "well-fitted mask in all public settings" for another five days.

Speaking Thursday morning in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ford said: “I got tested today and I tested negative, just out of (an) abundance of caution.”

When asked about his campaign's COVID protocols and if he’s testing regularly, Ford didn’t answer directly, saying instead he'd be “following all the protocols from (Ontario’s chief medical officer of health).”

According to a spokesperson for the Progressive Conservative Party, Ford doesn’t consider himself a close contact of Schreiner or Horwath, because “it’s been more than 48 hours.”

Del Duca, on the other hand, declared himself possibly exposed and said at an event in Mississauga: “I will continue to monitor myself closely for any symptoms, and to test regularly daily, in fact, going forward.” The Liberal leader also tested negative in the morning and said he'd called both Schreiner and Horwath to wish them well.

Public-health guidelines state that a close contact is “anyone you were less than two metres away from for at least 15 minutes … without personal protective equipment in the 48 hours before your symptoms began or your positive test result, whichever came first.”

Because Schreiner’s test came at the tail end of the 48-hour mark, it’s unclear whether Del Duca and Ford would be considered close contacts.

Those who've been exposed to someone who's tested positive must do the following for 10 days: monitor him- or herself for symptoms, wear a mask, avoid activities where masks need to be taken off, avoid high-risk settings, and avoid anyone who's at higher risk of severe disease.

The NDP candidate in Sault Ste. Marie, McCleave-Kennedy, could have used the in-person boost from Horwath, since she lost to Ross Romano, Ford's government-services minister, by 414 votes in 2018. The party’s campaign director has also marked the riding as a potential battleground.

iPolitics’ polling dashboard currently shows the race favouring Romano, whose potential vote share is more than double McCleave-Kennedy’s, based on polling by Mainstreet Research.

This post was copy-edited after publication in QP Briefing.

Horwath says her campaign won’t be derailed by COVID diagnosis

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