Berks County Commissioner tests positive for COVID-19

The freshman commissioner urged the public to wear masks and follow precautions.

• Anthony Orozco
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  Anthony Orozco was the Latino communities reporter for WITF.

Berks County Commissioner Michael Rivera has tested positive for the coronavirus, according to a statement from the county Tuesday morning.

“Last week, after not feeling well for several days, I tested positive for COVID-19,” Rivera said in the written statement. “At present I am doing well, and my symptoms have been under control.”

Rivera has been a visible figure in raising awareness of the virus among the Spanish-speaking community. He was noticeably absent from a coronavirus news conference last week where elected leaders and members of the Latino community urged people and businesses to continue social distancing, to wear masks and to adhere to state and CDC health guidelines.

Berks and Reading officials plead with the public to wear masks and practice social distancing.
Mayor Eddie Moran delivers his message in English and Spanish pic.twitter.com/tksclN4uUi

— Anthony Orozco (@AnthonyOrozco20) August 10, 2020

Rivera lives in Bern Township with his wife, Zylkia, and two adolescent children, Andrea and Adriana, according to his campaign page. Rivera said he and his family are quarantining, and he is the only one showing symptoms of the virus. He urged people to continue wearing their masks and to take precautions.

Rivera said he continues to work from home. He participated in the county commissioners’ weekly meeting last Thursday morning.

“I know many of us are growing tired of wearing masks and social distancing (especially now in summer with this beautiful weather), as well as the constant need to clean and sanitize,” Rivera said in the statement. “However, until there are effective treatments and a vaccine available broadly, we must continue these precautions because we know they make a real difference. If not for yourself, do it for your parents, your neighbors and those with underlying medical conditions.”

Rivera did not immediately respond to requests for further comment Monday about when he was tested, when he got his results and if the illness was the reason he missed last week’s news conference.

UPDATE:
Rivera, the county’s first Latino commissioner, has played a large role in the county’s “Haga Tu Parte, Pare La Propagación” (“Do Your Part, Stop The Spread”) Spanish-language coronavirus awareness campaign. He appeared at numerous informational events to deliver messages in Spanish.

Michael Toledo, CEO and president of the Centro Hispano Daniel Torres in Reading, has teamed with Rivera on multiple occasions for bilingual informational events about the coronavirus.

“Mike has been a convener and just a champion in trying to keep us as safe as possible in dealing with this COVID-19 virus that really does not discriminate, that affects all, regardless of race, culture, profession, it makes no difference live in the city live in the suburb,” Toledo said Tuesday.

Toledo joined other community leaders and personalities at last week’s coronavirus news conference. The event was inspired in part by local Spanish-language radio DJ Hector Dorta Jr., who took to social media days before to decry local Latino businesses he claimed were not implementing social distancing or requiring staff and customers to wear masks.

Berks is one of the counties hardest hit by the coronavirus in the region. The county has had 5,645 confirmed and probable cases, and has had 375 deaths from the virus, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health.

Reading is 66 percent Latino and 45.8 percent of the Berks County cases come from zip codes in the city and neighboring areas, according to Department of Health data.

Toledo said Rivera’s case emphasizes the need for the Latino community to take the virus seriously.

“It just, if anything, it raises our level of importance of taking the necessary steps we all need to protect ourselves,” Toledo said Tuesday. “And just know that this is why we take all the precautions that Commissioner Rivera and the rest of the commissioners have communicated to us to protect ourselves, to protect each other, to protect our families.”

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This story is developing.

Anthony Orozco is a fellow with Report for America, a national service program that places talented emerging journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered topics and communities.