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Mayor Eric Adams — who has focused much of his time in power on New York’s reopening and the concurrent rollback of COVID-19 restrictions — has tested positive for the coronavirus on his 100th day in office. The Mayor has canceled all of his events for the week and is currently isolating at home.
A statement from spokesperson Fabian Levy, revealed that Mayor Adams woke up on Sunday with symptoms of a raspy voice before testing negative on a rapid antigen test and positive on a PCR test. The mayor was scheduled to appear today at the reopening of the Wonder Wheel in Coney Island.
Mr Levy added, “At this time, the mayor has no other symptoms, but he is already isolating and will be canceling all public events for the remainder of the week. He is also going to immediately begin taking the anti-viral medications offered for free to New York City residents and encourages all New Yorkers eligible for these medications to take them as well. While he is isolating, he will continue to serve New Yorkers by working remotely.”
The mayor’s schedule requires him to travel frequently to meet in-person with both legislators and community organizations, making it unclear where he had contracted the virus. On Friday, he attended the 51st Annual Legislative Conference of the New York State Association of Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic, and Asian Legislators, followed by a full day of events on Saturday — where he made appearances at a cannabis industry workshop and three luncheons with CUNY, labor groups, and sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha. Mayor Adams was also in attendance at the April 2 Gridiron Dinner in Washington DC, now shown to be a superspreader event where at least 67 attendees have since tested positive for the virus.
New York (and Hell’s Kitchen) is currently experiencing a rise in COVID-19 cases, where the seven-day average transmission sits at 3.30 percent, up from 2.99 percent as of the last 28 days. Hell’s Kitchen numbers sit at 4.57 percent positivity for 10018, 4.9 percent positivity for 10019, and 5.14 percent for 10036. While the recent uptick is sharp, experts such as ER doctor Craig Spencer noted that current numbers have yet to reach the peak of January’s omicron levels. W42ST recently spoke to Dr Vino Palli, who said that should case numbers continue to climb, public health officials may change their recommendations, though he did not expect an immediate change in restrictions.
Palli said: “I don’t think we need to go back to indoor mask mandates right now — but I do think we should wait another couple of weeks to a month and see what happens. I think what the mathematical and epidemiological models are predicting is that there’s going to be a surge at the end of the spring going into summer, and perhaps a real surge in fall and winter. Officials may then consider mask mandates, social distancing and all those other public health measures that we took at the beginning of the pandemic.”
No announcements have been made in regards to pandemic restrictions following the Mayor’s diagnosis.