Atlanta’s mayor, Keisha Lance Bottoms, the fierce wife, mother and politician who is in her first-term as the highest-ranking politician in ATL, has tested positive for coronavirus, she announced Monday. The competent Mayor tweeted that “COVID-19 has literally hit home.” Bottoms, a 50-year-old Democrat who has been on the lips of folks saying that she is up in the running to be on the ticket with Joe Biden, said she and her husband only experienced symptoms similar to seasonal allergies.
Bottoms, in an appearance on MSNBC, said the positive test result was a “shock” and she only decided to get tested because her husband had been sleeping more than usual.
“It leaves me for a loss of words because I think it really speaks to how contagious this virus is. We’ve taken all the precautions that you can possibly take. I have no idea when and where we were exposed,” she said.
Asymptomatic transmission of COVID-19 is one of its biggest mysteries, with the World Health Organization recently reminding the public of the distinction between asymptomatic patients, who never develop symptoms, and presymptomatic patients, who go on to develop symptoms later in the course of the disease.
Around 80% of both symptomatic and asymptomatic patients tested positive for IgG antibodies about 3-4 weeks after exposure. The difference was greater when examining IgM antibodies, with positive findings in 78.4% of symptomatic patients and 62.2% of asymptomatic patients.
Long-standing systemic health and social inequities have put some members of racial and ethnic minority groups at increased risk of getting COVID-19 or experiencing severe illness, regardless of age. Among some racial and ethnic minority groups, including non-Hispanic black persons, Hispanics and Latinos, and American Indians/Alaska Natives, evidence points to higher rates of hospitalization or death from COVID-19 than among non-Hispanic white persons. According to the CDC, as of June 12, 2020, age-adjusted hospitalization rates are highest among non-Hispanic American Indian or Alaska Native and non-Hispanic black persons, followed by Hispanic or Latino persons.
As she battles this invisible enemy in COVID, she’s also battling for the safety and welfare of people in her city. After Rayshard Brooks was fatally shot in June,……at that same location, on this past Fourth of July weekend, the city mourns the murder of 8-year-old Secoriea Turner, who was shot and killed.
Lance-Bottoms made headlines for her tough stance after the shooting. She said at a press conference that “enough is enough.”
“We have talked about this movement that’s happening across America and this moment in time when we have the ears and the interests of people across this country and across this globe who are saying they want to see change.
“But the difference in this moment in time with the civil rights movement — in the civil rights movement, there was a defined, common enemy,” she said. “We’re fighting the enemy within when we are shooting each other up on our streets.”
Prayers up for her and the family.
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