ATLANTA _ Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has tested positive for the COVID-19 virus, according to an announcement she posted on Twitter late Monday.
"COVID-19 has literally hit home," the mayor wrote at 5:45 p.m. "I have had NO symptoms and have tested positive."
The day before Bottoms made the announcement on social media, she hosted a news conference filled with a room full of police, two Atlanta City Council members, media and family members of 8-year-old shooting victim Secoriea Turner.
She wore a mask, but removed it to make lengthy remarks about Turner's death, which occurred Saturday near the Wendy's that has been occupied by armed demonstrators in the aftermath of Rayshard Brooks' killing by police last month.
Interim Police Chief Rodney Bryant also spoke at the microphone.
Bottoms told MSNBC on Monday that she had herself tested because her husband had been sleeping since Thursday.
"Which is just not like him," she said.
Bottoms said she and her family had been diligent about washing their hands and wearing masks.
"I have no idea when and where we were exposed," she said.
A Bottoms' spokesman didn't immediately answer a question about how the mayor planned to govern the city while isolating herself from others.
According to an administrative order signed by Georgia Department of Health Commissioner Kathleen E. Toomey last month, anyone who came within 6 feet of Bottoms for 15 minutes or more will have to quarantine themselves at home for 14 days.
And Bottoms will have to isolate herself and cooperate with state and local public health personnel to identify and locate those she came into contact with two days before her positive test sample.
She may also have to provide a list of locations she visited during the time she might have potentially transmitted the disease.
Violation of the order is considered a misdemeanor, according to the order.
As Bottoms has tried to manage the COVID-19 pandemic and unrest over police brutality here in Atlanta, she has steadily emerged as a legitimate contender for presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden's running mate. She is often mentioned as a potential VP pick undergoing vetting from Biden's campaign.
