New York City mayor Eric Adams has tested positive for COVID-19, a spokesperson for the mayor’s office announced on Sunday. Adams woke up on his 100th day in office “with a raspy voice” and “out of an abundance of caution, took a PCR test that has now come back positive,” the spokesperson said in a statement. The mayor is isolating and will work remotely in the interim, cancelling a series of events on Sunday and clearing his schedule for the next several days. He “is also going to immediately begin taking the antiviral medications offered for free to New York City residents and encourages all New Yorkers eligible for these medications to take them as well.”
On Sunday, Adams confirmed his test results, tweeting, “I’ve tested positive for #COVID19 and am following my doctors orders by isolating. Thankfully, I’m vaccinated and boosted so symptoms are minimal.”
On Monday, just one day after testing positive, the mayor held a remote press conference to discuss President Joe Biden’s nominee to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and a new rule from the federal government meant to tackle ghost guns.
“I feel fine. Outside of the raspy voice, I feel fine. No fevers, I’m not tired. No aches or pains at all,” Adams said.
He continued, “I want to encourage every New Yorker to get boosted and get vaccinated.”
It is not clear when or where Adams was exposed to the virus, or whether or not he has exposed others while infected. He is now one of more than 50 people, including numerous top Democrats, who have tested positive for COVID-19 after attending the Gridiron Club dinner in Washington, D.C., on April 2. (Neither face masks nor a negative COVID test result were required for the event.) The number of U.S. COVID cases has also been rising in recent weeks, including in New York, fueled by the more transmissible Omicron subvariant, BA.2 — which is now the dominant COVID strain in the country.
Adams, who said last week that he takes an at-home rapid test every day, has been seen at numerous public events without a mask in recent days. Since Friday he has attended the home opener at Yankee Stadium, the New York State Association of Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic, and Asian Legislators’ caucus conference in Albany, three luncheons, and a cannabis industry workshop. He was also seen maskless at the opening night of the 2022 ReelAbilities Film Festival on Thursday, the 2022 National Action Network Convention on Wednesday, and reportedly, dinner with former governor Andrew Cuomo at Le Pavillon on Tuesday.
He has been doing media interviews to mark his 100th day in office, as well. It’s not clear if Adams took any extra precautions during any of these activities in light of the numerous cases linked to the D.C. event he attended last weekend.
The new mayor has been a loud proponent of rescinding COVID restrictions and reopening the city following the Omicron wave, and just last week noted that he had never tested positive for COVID or felt symptoms, which he suggested might have been, in part, a result of his quasi-vegan diet. “I am around people all the time — even in the heart of COVID. I was at ground zero,” Adams said on Wednesday. “For whatever reason, I think it’s a combination of my eating lifestyle, and some luck maybe involved but no, I never had it.”
This post has been updated.
