Miami commissioner, city manager test positive for COVID-19 while omicron surges
Miami Commissioner Manolo Reyes and City Manager Art Noriega have tested positive for COVID-19.
Reyes, 77, who was fully vaccinated and received his booster, tested positive Wednesday night, the day after appearing at a press conference at Miami Marine Stadium where the city opened a new testing site. He later developed a cough and got tested.
“The only thing is a little cough that comes and goes,” Reyes told the Miami Herald on Thursday. “I have no temperature, no body aches.”
Reyes said he’s staying home and depending on how he feels, he may attend the Jan. 13 City Commission meeting via a video call. He encouraged people to get vaccinated and boosted in order to dramatically reduce the chances of serious illness, hospitalization and death.
“Get your vaccine and your booster,” he said. “I’ve been telling everybody.”
Noriega, 54, who tested positive Thursday morning and is also fully vaccinated with a booster, said he feels like he has a normal flu.
“Just have some chest congestion,” he said in a text message. “No other aches or pains.”
The omicron variant of the virus has spread quickly in the community, sending the number of cases soaring in recent weeks. The infections impacted workforces in many sectors, from local government to hospitals where healthcare workers are facing staffing shortages and burnout from the stress of the nearly two-year-long pandemic.
This story was originally published January 6, 2022 at 6:54 PM.
