Pittsburgh Mayor-elect Ed Gainey announced Monday that a rapid COVID test he took earlier in the day had come back positive, just hours before he announced the formation of new "transition teams" to guide his administration. He said he was experiencing no symptoms.
"Today I went to take my routine physical exam and we took a rapid COVID test because I wanted one," Gainey said in a press conference that had abruptly been moved from an in-person event to a Zoom meeting this morning. "It came back slightly positive, and so I asked people to move to this" forum.
Gainey said he had taken a PCR test — a more accurate test for the disease — and that he expected results within the next 24 to 48 hours.
"We will be transparent in letting everyone know exactly where I'm at," he said.
Gainey's reference to being "slightly positive" appeared to refer to the fact that he was asymptomatic. "I don't have [any] symptoms at all," he said, adding that his body temperature was 97.4 degrees.
Gainey said he took the test because he learned Saturday that he had been exposed. "This is why we need to stay safe," he said. " This is why we need to protect one another. This is why we have to make sure that we do everything possible to be there for their neighbor."
