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Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh is entering a precautionary quarantine after he attended an event Wednesday with a mayor who later tested positive for the coronavirus. 

Richard David, the mayor of Binghamton, tested positive for COVID-19 late Wednesday night. David attended an event at Syracuse City Hall that afternoon with Walsh and mayors from eight other cities in New York state to discuss budget crises related to the pandemic. 

Walsh said in a press release Thursday that he will quarantine himself “out of an abundance of caution.” He said he had minimal contact with David and that individuals at the event followed all public health guidelines.

The event was initially scheduled to take place outside but was moved inside City Hall due to bad weather, Walsh said at a virtual press meeting Thursday afternoon. Seven other city employees who were present at the event are also quarantining, Walsh said.

Walsh said he is “comfortable” with the decision to hold an in-person press conference amid the pandemic. The mayors and other staff who attended all followed appropriate health guidelines, he said.

A spokesperson for David said the mayor stayed overnight at a hospital following the gathering and received his COVID-19 test, CNY Central reported. The mayors met again later that afternoon at the Sherwood Inn in Skaneateles, but David did not attend.

There has been a surge of COVID-19 cases in Binghamton since late September, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo has deemed the area to be a coronavirus hotspot. Syracuse has also recently confirmed two emerging clusters of the virus, one at Syracuse University and another at a local manufacturing plant.

Onondaga County health officials will contact anyone who was at the event with information on precautions they should take.

Published on October 8, 2020 at 1:21 pm

Contact Maggie: mehicks@syr.edu | @maggie_hickss