Key Biscayne Mayor Mike Davey said he tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday, getting the result from a home test after developing symptoms recently. The mayor joins several other Village staff who have tested positive in recent days, as officials canceled public events because of the virus.
Apart from what he described as a lingering headache, the mayor said his case was mild. Davey, who has made dozens of videos to residents promoting maskings and vaccines during the pandemic, said he was fully vaccinated and boosted.
Village officials said that police and fire departments have been coping with several first responders who’ve contracted coronavirus in recent days, but Manager Steve Williamson says so far, the illnesses have not impaired critical services, although officials did cancel a movie night on the Village Green set for Saturday.
Williamson said he does not yet see a need to reimpose a mask mandate for the general public in Village buildings. The CDC recommends “wearing a mask in public indoor settings in areas of substantial or high community transmission regardless of vaccination status.”
County buildings are again requiring masks and Miami-Dade schools have implemented a mask requirement for adults.
“Voluntary compliance is almost as effective as mandates,” Williamson said. “And in some cases mandates create more conflict than it does benefits.”
Williamson said as many as seven Key Biscayne police officers had tested positive at one point, but said the number was down to four on Tuesday. Fire Chief Eric Lang said seven department employees were positive as of Wednesday.
“Forty percent of members have tested positive in the last three weeks,” Lang said, adding that employees have had mild symptoms and have rejoined the workforce after seven days.
Davey, who still is urging the public to get vaccinated and mask up, said he would share his views with Williamson on masks. “It’s about the vulnerable,” Davey said.
Vaccine pop-up clinics are set for Thursday and Jan. 27th at the Community Center from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
For tests, appointments are not required at the new site at the Marine Stadium, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Persons can also make an appointment with Curative for sites on the Village Green and at Calusa Park.
Lang said the vaccination rate remains about 80% in the Key Biscayne zip code, with an estimated 29% positivity rate. Over the last seven days, more than 5,300 people took tests at the two Village curative sites.
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Tony Winton is the editor-in-chief of the Key Biscayne Independent and president of Miami Fourth Estate, Inc. He worked previously at The Associated Press for three decades winning multiple Edward R. Murrow awards. He was president of the News Media Guild, a journalism union, for 10 years. Born in Chicago, he is a graduate of Columbia University. His interests are photography and technology, sailing, cooking, and science fiction.