WeHo mayor tells of testing positive
He fell ill amid the city’s coronavirus planning efforts.
For West Hollywood Mayor John D’Amico, who tested positive for the novel coronavirus last week, gratitude under quarantine looks like a loving husband, two loyal dogs and a long driveway for solo walks.
The mayor’s positive test on March 18 came as city officials were in the midst of aggressive planning to combat the disease’s spread. That day, city staffers were ordered to leave work. Facilities were deep-cleaned. City Hall remains closed.
A dense, 1.9-square-mile city of 37,000, West Hollywood had 31 confirmed cases of the new coronavirus as of Tuesday, the most per capita in Los Angeles County.
Within its large LGBTQ population, some West Hollywood residents heard echoes of the AIDS crisis, when news reports in the 1980s spoke of a mysterious “gay cancer.”
D’Amico, who is HIV-positive and moved to West Hollywood in the 1980s, told The Times that the new coronavirus “is a different challenge, and we’re rising to it.”
As to how he got the coronavarius? D’Amico said he is “fairly certain” what happened.
The mayor said his husband, Keith Rand, a therapist, attended a conference of the American Group Psychotherapy Assn. in New York in early March. The event has been tied to at least 22 positive cases, the association said.
Rand got home March 8 and, a few days later, started hearing that people at the conference were reporting being sick, D’Amico said.
D’Amico said that on the afternoon of March 14, a Saturday, as he was working with city staffers on emergency ordinances, he started getting a headache. The next morning, the headache was worse.
By March 16, he had a slight cough and did not go to work. That afternoon, he had a fever.
On March 17, he had a fever all day, he said. D’Amico wrote to his doctor, who practices in Mid-Wilshire, and was told to come in. He got a coronavirus test in the parking lot.
That night, D’Amico took cold and flu medication, and his fever broke. He awoke on March 18 with no fever and easing aches and pains. That day, he got the test result: positive.
D’Amico was hopeful, even with the diagnosis.
“I didn’t feel scared, and I don’t,” D’Amico said.
D’Amico said West Hollywood, even though government buildings are shut and staffers are working remotely, is still a resource for residents.