Another bug scare hits mayor race

Days after the start of petitioning to get on June primary ballots, a City Council candidate tested positive for COVID — giving a mayoral wannabe a scare and highlighting the potential dangers of campaigning during the pandemic.

City Council candidate Amoy Barnes tested positive Saturday, prompting her to cancel an interview with a local political club. But prior to that, she’d briefly campaigned alongside mayoral candidate Kathryn Garcia at St. George Green Market on Staten Island.

“If we had known somebody had COVID, we would not have been out there,” Garcia spokesman Peter Brown told the Daily News. “We’ve been over-the-top careful.”

He said Garcia, a former sanitation commissioner in the de Blasio administration, and “all staff exposed” were immediately getting COVID tests and would “take it from there.”

Since the Tuesday start of petitioning, that’s the only thing Barnes has done outside her home, according to her spokeswoman Brittany Jones.

Last month, dozens of candidates for office sued to suspend the requirement to gather signatures to get on ballots, saying it was too dangerous with COVID still raging.

Barnes wasn’t a plaintiff, but believed the requirement — which a judge upheld — was “reckless and irresponsible,” according to Jones. “There’s no reason this needed to happen,” said Jones, adding that while there’s no way to know how Barnes contracted the virus, “there’s a pretty good chance” it happened while gathering signatures.

The pandemic has presented major challenges for candidates who want to go out and meet voters.

Last month, Andrew Yang said he went into quarantine after testing positive for COVID.

In January, candidate Scott Stringer, the city comptroller, isolated himself after appearing at an event with Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-Manhattan, Bronx) and learning the congressman had tested positive for COVID.

Maya Wiley, a former top legal adviser to Mayor de Blasio, went into quarantine in December after encountering a positive case.