Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price tests positive for coronavirus
Fort Worth Mayor Betsy has tested positive for COVID-19.
Price, 71, said Wednesday morning she would quarantine after her husband, Tom, was diagnosed earlier this week with the novel coronavirus. Shortly after 3 p.m. Price’s Twitter accounted issued a statement that she too had tested positive. The couple has mild symptoms, according to a statement.
“As we head into the holiday season, we continue to ask everyone to remain vigilant and prioritize the health and safety of our community by wearing a mask and social distancing,” she said.
Both are in good spirits, according to the statement.
Price did not attend Tuesday’s City Council meetings and instead appeared by video. A city spokeswoman said no city employees would have to quarantine.
Price’s diagnosis comes as Tarrant and Dallas counties have been reporting records for daily new cases and COVID hospitalizations have soared to a level unseen since late July.
Tarrant County reported more than 2,100 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, breaking the previous single-day record by nearly 600. There have been 85,759 COVID cases and 811 deaths in Tarrant County since March. A total of 63,223 people have recovered from the virus.
As of Tuesday, COVID-19 hospitalizations in the 19-county North Texas Trauma Service Area are at 14.39% of capacity, according to Vinny Taneja, the county’s public health director. If the number tops 15% for seven consecutive days, businesses would have to go back to 50% capacity and bars would have to close.
Medstar this week began moving COVID-19 patients out of busier urban hospitals to less crowded ones elsewhere. Five patients have been moved from a hospital near downtown Fort Worth.
This is the fourth time Price has been exposed to the novel coronavirus since April. Most recently in late October, she canceled her annual Spooky Bike Ride as she was awaiting test results. She later announced she tested negative.
She was first exposed to the coronavirus in April, when she tested negative but two city employees she had been in close contact with tested positive. She was exposed to COVID-19 a second time in June after Councilman Cary Moon tested positive for the virus a day after attending City Hall meetings.
This story was originally published November 18, 2020 at 3:50 PM.
