Andrew Yang, the tech entrepreneur and former candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination now running to be mayor of New York City, has tested positive for Covid-19.
Yang, who recently said he would quarantine after a staffer tested positive, tweeted: “After testing negative as recently as this weekend, I have taken a positive Covid rapid test. I’m quarantining and adhering to public health guidelines until I can get back out on the campaign trail.
“Evelyn [his wife] already has me very well-contained and cared for. In all seriousness if you want me to feel better donate to my campaign! Then, I can relax,” he added.
Yang rose to national prominence with a stronger-than-expected run for the Democratic presidential nomination and has maintained a national profile. His run for mayor of New York, in a crowded field seeking to succeed Bill de Blasio, features promises to “revive and rebuild” the city and to introduce a localised version of his proposal for a universal basic income.
But Yang got off to a rocky start when he discussed his family’s decision to leave the city under the coronavirus pandemic.
“We live in a two-bedroom apartment in Manhattan,” he told the New York Times when asked about the decision to leave. “And so, like, can you imagine trying to have two kids on virtual school in a two-bedroom apartment, and then trying to do work yourself?”
In a city laboring under social restrictions and closed schools, where more than 35,000 have died and where the physical and economic toll of Covid has been heaviest for disadvantaged and minority communities, many critics replied that yes, they could.
