Indian American official calls it a “reminder that Covid is still with us.”
After testing positive for Covid-19, New York City’s Indian American health commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi has asked citizens to be cautious as Covid “continues to circulate in our communities.”
“This is a reminder – if we ever needed one – that Covid is still with us and we all must continue to wear masks, wash our hands, socially distance and stay home if feeling ill,” he stated Wednesday.
Chokshi said he has mild, but manageable symptoms and is working with the city to perform contact tracing and alert anyone who was potentially exposed.
“In New York City and across the country, Covid continues to circulate in our communities, and all of us are potentially exposed to the virus,” he said. “A testament to this fact is that I recently got tested and received a positive diagnosis for Covid-19.”
When asked about how he can reassure the public about the virus after the health commissioner’s positive diagnosis, Mayor Bill de Blasio said it is a reminder that “Covid is everywhere around us.”
READ: Indian American appointed New York City health commissioner (August 5, 2020)
“Dr. Chokshi has been doing absolutely amazing work and grueling work protecting all of us, but we’re all human beings. There’s the possibility that Covid can reach us. It doesn’t change the overall reality,” the mayor said.
Questioned about why he and his top officials had not been vaccinated, de Blasio said, “I think it is incumbent upon all of us who do not yet meet the criteria to defer to those in greater need.”
“I don’t want to get a vaccination when a senior citizen could be getting that vaccination or a first responder could be getting that vaccination.”
Chokshi had not previously been vaccinated, according to Senior Advisor and Epidemiologist Dr. Jay Varma.
However, the health commissioner had planned to get vaccinated after working a specific number of hours at vaccine sites.
Chokshi was announced as New York City’s health commissioner in August, taking the helm in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic following the resignation of Dr. Oxiris Barbot.
Chokshi, a primary care physician at Bellevue Hospital and associate professor at the NYU School of Medicine, has served in leadership roles at NYC Health + Hospitals over the past six years.
Since the onset of the pandemic early last year, New York City has registered at least 621,218 confirmed coronavirus cases and 27,354 deaths.
The city’s biggest hot spots include the South Bronx, north and southeast Queens, and much of Staten Island.