By Dan Murphy
Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano revealed on May 8 that an antibody test for COVID-19 that he recently took resulted in a positive test. Spano said that while he had previously tested negative for Coronavirus, and that he was never sick, or had COVID-19 symptoms, he tested positive for the antibodies test which discovered what thousands of Westchester residents have also found out: That they had the Coronavirus but never knew it
Spano’s announcement comes as Yonkers now has 6,000 cases of Coronavirus, most in Westchester County. Last month, an unidentified employee in the Mayor’s office also tested positive.
“I was pretty shocked that it came back positive,” Spano said after finding out the results from his doctor, who said that the Mayor was one of the lucky residents of Yonkers and Westchester who were able to get through the virus without symptoms
Spano added that he will use his antibodies to help others and will donate his plasma to help other COVID-19 patients recover. Currently, antibodies are being used in patients, but it has not yet been determined if they do in fact stop the spread of the virus.
In the days before the Coronavirus landed in Yonkers, Mayor Spano and all residents of Westchester’s largest city went about their business, interacting with each other, attending events and meetings in City Hall and across the city. Spano likely interacted with thousands of people before precautions were made, which included the closing of City Hall to the public, social distancing and stay at home orders.
The Mayor could have come in contact with someone else who had unwillingly known that they were carrying the virus, and that could have been the way he contracted COVID-19. The only symptom Spano had in recent weeks was nasal congestion, which is not a prime symptom for Coronavirus.
COVID-19 symptoms include fever, cough, shortness of breath and loss of smell. While the Mayor had none of those symptoms, he joins other many healthy persons who have had the virus and have been asymptomatic.
