Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti on Thursday said his 9-year-old daughter Maya had tested positive for the coronavirus.
“My daughter Maya turned 9 this weekend, wasn’t feeling very well,” Garcetti said in a news briefing.
“And after she came down with a fever, we had her tested for COVID-19 and her results came back positive.”
Garcetti said his daughter was feeling fine, with only mild symptoms, and was self-isolating.
The mayor and his wife Amy Wakeland, who both tested negative, will also quarantine, he said.
“As we monitor Maya’s symptoms and take care of her, my family is going through what so many families across this city and this nation and around the world are experiencing,” the Democrat said.
Asked how his daughter had contracted the virus, Garcetti said he did not know.
“We follow very strict protocols. We haven’t mixed households,” he said, “So how do you explain it to a child?”
“It’s a scary thing. I’ll admit, she had some tears in her eyes, but I reassured her that it was going to be okay.”
The briefing came as local officials announced that all intensive care units in Southern California were at capacity amid spiking virus cases.
