Fort Worth Mayor Price tests negative for coronavirus, but second staffer is infected
Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price said she does not have the novel coronavirus, but a second city employee she was in close contact with has tested positive for COVID-19.
She will remain in self-quarantine at home with her husband, she said Tuesday in a video message, and will keep track of her symptoms out of caution.
“It’s best to be overly cautious,” she said. “Act like you’ve tested positive and stay home.”
Some time last week, Price was in close contact with a city employee inside the Joint Emergency Operations Center who tested positive for coranvirus on Monday. The city has not released details about that employee, or the second employee Price mentioned Tuesday.
Price took a test in the morning that is usually completed in eight hours through the Tarrant County Health Department, she said. The test was negative.
The time it takes for a coronavirus test to be processed vary based on the lab. The New York Times last week reported that some patients waited a few days, while others have been waiting for a month. A testing site set up in partnership with the University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth and the Moncrief Cancer Institute processes tests within 24 to 48 hours.
“We need more testing,” Price said. “Testing is the key to beginning to clear this virus.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention established a priority ranking for those who should be tested, starting with hospitalized patients and symptomatic health care workers. She fits within the CDC’s “Priority 3” guidelines, which includes “critical infrastructure employees.”
The CDC notes that decisions about testing are “at the discretion of state and local health departments and/or individual clinicians.”
Price said she was tested at the request Tarrant County Public Health Director Vinny Taneja and Dr. Keith Argenbright.
The city did not specify when last week the mayor and the infected employee were in contact, though Price had been in and out of the emergency operations center frequently since the start of the pandemic.
Her daily livestream briefings, which last week included multiple city council members, are filmed in the same building as the emergency operations center, but in a separate area. Last week the videos included multiple city council members, but a city spokeswoman said she was unaware of any council member who required testing.
Everyone who was in contact with the infected person will be tested, according to the city’s statement. It’s unclear how many people Price was in contact with after being exposed, but a city employee described the number as small and controlled.
Price along with Fire Chief Jim Davis, Police Chief Ed Kraus and City Manager David Cooke visited several Fort Worth hospitals last Thursday evening to show support for front line workers. Videos and photos of the event show Price near other city officials, medical workers and others.
The event was not a major health concern, a spokeswoman said, because everyone wore masks, avoided contact and maintained social distance.
Price, who is usually upbeat, was more somber during her Monday night briefing when she announced she was exposed to the virus and again Tuesday during an phone interview with the Star-Telegram.
In the interview she said being exposed to the virus had not changed her optimism that parts of life in the city may begin to return to normal by this summer.
“I’m a glass three-quarters full kind of person,” Price said. “You do the best you can and you move on.”
This story was originally published April 21, 2020 at 6:45 PM.
