Miami-Dade County Commissioner Raquel Regalado tests positive for COVID
Miami-Dade Commissioner Raquel Regalado has tested positive for COVID-19, the county announced Thursday morning.
The county said Regalado is “asymptomatic and in good health” and was tested Wednesday because one of her kids might have been exposed.
The announcement also noted Regalado wore a cloth mask over an N95 mask while in the Miami-Dade County Commission offices and chamber for committee meetings Tuesday and practiced social distancing. But a photo contradicts that last part..
At Tuesday evening’s Transportation Committee meeting, a masked Regalado joined other masked commissioners for a shoulder-to-shoulder group photo with outgoing transit director Alice Bravo.
A commission source said Thursday commissioners have not received guidance on whether to isolate. “Business as usual here,” the source said. Olga Vega, a spokesperson for the County Commission, said the board relied on medical advice from Dr. Peter Paige, the Jackson Health physician who serves as the county’s chief medical officer.
Rachel Johnson, the county’s communications director, said Paige considered Regalado’s interaction during the brief photo shoot to be “pretty low risk” and did not recommend anyone quarantine because of it. Even so, she said the county’s chief operating officer, Jimmy Morales, did go home Thursday to away the results of a COVID test. Morales was standing next to Regalado in the photo.
On Thursday afternoon, Regalado appeared by video for the commission’s Recreation and Cultural Committee. She participated in the discussion and showed no COVID symptoms. “Thank you everyone,” she said after adjournment. “Have a nice afternoon.”
Meanwhile, the county said Regalado and her staff will go into isolation for 10 days until cleared by testing.
Regalado is the latest among local politicians to test positive, a list that includes Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, former Miami-Dade Mayor now U.S. Congressman Carlos Gimenez; state Rep. Marie Woodson and Coral Gables Mayor Raul Valdes-Fauli.
This story was originally published February 11, 2021 at 10:17 AM.
