Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms contracts COVID-19

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Monday, July 6, 2020
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ATLANTA -- Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms announced Monday that she had tested positive for COVID-19.

"COVID-19 has literally hit home. I have had NO symptoms and have tested positive," Bottoms, regarded to be a potential Democratic vice presidential candidate, tweeted.

She told MSNBC that she decided her family members should get tested again because her husband "literally has been sleeping since Thursday."

Bottoms, in her first term as mayor, has risen to prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic. She has been noted for her earlier criticism of Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp on his slowness to order Georgians to shelter in place and his quickness to lift that order.

She was an early and vocal supporter of presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden, speaking on his behalf in Iowa before that state's caucus. The former vice president has been considering Bottoms as his possible vice presidential running mate in his own presidential bid.

Bottoms has supported protests against police brutality and racial injustice that have been widespread in Atlanta, urging protesters to get tested for the virus.