OFFICIAL TESTS POSITIVE
Commissioner ‘shocked’ since he took all precautions
Montgomery County Commissioners’ Vice Chairman Kenneth E. Lawrence Jr. said he was “shocked” to learn he tested positive for COVID-19 after undergoing a test at a pop-up testing site he helped arrange in Pottstown on Saturday.
“I was shocked. I have been very careful. I take my temperature regularly, I wear a mask, I wear gloves, I wash my hands and I social distance. I’m not aware that I’d been in contact with anyone that was positive. I was shocked,” Lawrence said during a candid phone interview on Monday. “I still don’t have any symptoms. We’ll see what happens. We’ll take it one day at a time.”
Lawrence, of Plymouth Township, said he got the news on Sunday, a day after he was tested at a pop-up testing site sponsored by the Black Doctors COVID-19 Consortium on the parking lot of Second Baptist Church in Pottstown.
Lawrence helped spearhead and arrange for the oneday testing site and said he attended the event, primarily to thank the doctors. Lawrence said Dr. Ala Stanford suggested he get tested and he decided to do so.
Lawrence and Stanford are members of Salem Baptist Church in Roslyn and the pastor there put the two together to help arrange the one-day
testing site in Pottstown.
“I didn’t have any symptoms. I was asymptomatic and there was no reason for me to think that I needed to be tested. But (Stanford) encouraged me to be tested so I went through the process and she called me on Sunday to let me know I was positive,” Lawrence said.
Lawrence said his situation serves as an example as to why widespread testing for COVID-19 is important.
“I think the message is that we need more widespread testing in our communities. We’re discovering more and more that people can be carriers and be asymptomatic. So we need more widespread community testing,” said Lawrence. “Until we can do that, everyone should assume that they are positive and maintain that social distancing. People should assume they are positive even if they don’t have any symptoms.” Officials said others that had direct contact with Lawrence, including employees working at the Emergency Operations Center in Eagleville where the commissioners have held daily news briefings regarding the coronavirus outbreak, will be tested. Some reporters who covered the briefings also were being tested, officials said. Many of those contacts were being tested on Monday. During those daily news briefings, the commissioners have practiced social distancing, standing sixfeet apart, and all those attending the briefings have had temperature checks before being permitted into the briefing room. Lawrence is now self-isolating in his home, separate from his wife and two teenage sons, for 14 days. “I feel good. I hope to continue to feel good but I’m not going to be a hero, I’m not going to be a tough guy. I’m going to self-isolate and hopefully keep this away from my family and anyone else in my community,” Lawrence said. “My wife was generous enough to give me the master bedroom so I can have my own bathroom. She will be sharing a bathroom with my two teenage sons, so I will owe her greatly when this is done,” quipped Lawrence, managing to maintain his sense of humor through it all. Lawrence set up an office in his bedroom, adding he plans to continue to help run county business while working remotely and with the help of video-conferencing technology. Lawrence, chairman of the county Board of Elections, presided over a board meeting on Monday morning using such virtual technology. “We’ve learned a lot during this about Zoom and Webex and Skype and all of those things so I will be plugged in,” Lawrence said.
“I will continue to share information.”