How did KC mayor return to work so fast after Ozarks quarantine? Rapid COVID-19 test
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas’ physician told him 48 hours was plenty of time to tell whether he had contracted coronavirus after posing for a photo with a group of women at the Lake of the Ozarks, his office said in a statement Tuesday.
A photo of Lucas standing shoulder-to-shoulder with seven women on a public dock — none of them in masks — began circulating on Facebook and Twitter Sunday night with angry sharers commenting that they thought it hypocritical Lucas posed for the photo after mandating masks across Kansas City last month.
Lucas’ order, requiring that masks be worn at all indoor public spaces, has been extended indefinitely.
In a statement Monday about the photo, Lucas said he would avoid City Hall until he received a negative COVID-19 test result. First thing Tuesday morning, he appeared in the City Council chambers to announce a recommendation to delay the reopening of schools until after Labor Day.
Asked about his return to City Hall, he said he was given two COVID-19 tests Monday in the late morning or early afternoon and received results within hours.
“It’s not the advice that I’ve received that I need to be under any level of quarantine,” Lucas said.
In a statement later on Tuesday, his communications director, Morgan Said, said Lucas’ physician informed him there was “adequate time between the interaction — which, again, lasted for no more than 30 seconds outdoors — and his COVID-19 test.”
Asked how he received results so quickly when some labs may take a week to 10 days to process samples, Lucas said he had received all of his COVID-19 tests through the Kansas City Health Department. He added that the federal government needs to provide more funding to offer more tests and shorten wait times.
In his statement Monday, Lucas said he did not know the women at the lake but agreed to their request for a photo “out of politeness.”
