Andrew Yang has tested positive for COVID-19. The New York mayoral candidate who formally entered the race last month with a Darren Aronofsky–directed campaign video, announced his diagnosis in a statement on Tuesday:
After testing negative as recently as this weekend, today I took a COVID rapid test and received a positive result. I am experiencing mild symptoms, but am otherwise feeling well and in good spirits. I will quarantine in accordance with public health guidelines and follow the advice of my doctor.
During this time, I will continue to attend as many virtual events as possible, in addition to working with our incredible campaign team to continue our mission of getting New York City back on its feet. When the time is right, I look forward to once again hitting the campaign trail and advancing a positive vision for our city’s future.
Our team has begun the contact tracing process to notify anyone who may have been in close contact with me. Our safety protocols require staffers who participate in in-person campaign activities to get tested on a weekly basis. As always, I urge everyone to stay safe, wear a mask, and stay up to date with all the latest public health and COVID-related news at CDC.gov.
The former Democratic presidential candidate announced that he wanted to be mayor of New York City shortly after revealing he had spent much of the pandemic escaping it. He’s been eager to show he’s back in town. Last month, he tweeted out a video of himself in a deli (which he called a bodega, setting off uproar that some coined “Bodega-gate”). As Intelligencer’s David Freelander previously noted, Yang embraced in-person campaigning early in the mayoral contest: As others in the field stuck to Zoom, Yang took took to the streets, going on walking tours with local elected officials and press — until an aide contracted COVID-19, forcing him into quarantine two weeks ago.
