Michael Dukakis is hospitalized in Los Angeles with respiratory symptoms, but has repeatedly tested negative for the new coronavirus, according to his son.

John Dukakis told The Boston Globe that the former Massachusetts governor and his wife, Kitty, were staying at their second home near UCLA, where the 86-year-old teaches public policy each winter quarter, when he first began experiencing symptoms. According to his son, Dukakis was admitted Friday night to the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, where he has been tested twice for COVID-19. Both tests reportedly came back negative, and he was diagnosed with bacterial pneumonia.

Dukakis, the 1988 Democratic presidential nominee, is recovering, but can’t see visitors due to precautions taken by the hospital during the coronavirus outbreak, his son told the Globe. His family hopes he’ll be released in the coming days. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people over the age of 65 are among those who may be at higher risk for severe illness from COVID-19. Confirmed coronavirus cases in Los Angeles County topped 660 on Tuesday.


“He sounded better today than he did yesterday,” John Dukakis said of his father in an interview Tuesday night with the Globe. “He’s only upset that he doesn’t have a copy of any newspaper. He’s been savoring the New York Times from yesterday, just going through it. There’s not much he can do, so he’s a little bored. This is not his kind of thing.”

Since leaving office in 1991 after his third term, Dukakis has remained active, both politically and physically. Even in his 80s, the former multi-sport high school athlete has continued walking the two-mile commute from his home in Brookline to Northeastern University, where he is a distinguished professor, often cleaning up litter along the way.

“He’s been blessed with great health and a commitment to recreational sports that has served him well,” his son told the Globe. “He’s been told for a long time that he has the body of a younger man. But older people get pneumonia more easily, and that’s what happened here.”

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