Los Angeles mayor tests positive for COVID-19

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, who is attending the United Nations climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland, has tested positive for COVID-19, his office announced on Wednesday.

"He is feeling good and isolating in his hotel room," tweeted the mayor's office, adding that Garcetti is fully vaccinated.

"It's a real reminder that when you let your guard down, even when you follow everything right ... there's still a chance with breakthroughs, which is why the vaccine is so important," Garcetti told KABC-TV, a station of the ABC television network, during a Zoom interview.

In accordance with the UN guidelines for the conference, Garcetti conducted self-administered nasal swab tests frequently throughout the trip and tested negative, including receiving negative results twice.

On Tuesday, the mayor and his staff took PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests to get back into the United States, and Garcetti's positive test result was received on Wednesday, KABC-TV reported.

The city of Los Angeles is the seat of Los Angeles County, which is the nation's most populous county with around 10 million residents. Once a pandemic epicenter, the county's case rates have dropped dramatically since late August. However, local public health officials noted earlier this week that transmission is still "substantial" in the county.

Los Angeles public health officials on Wednesday confirmed 22 new deaths and 1,605 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the countywide counts to 26,683 and 1,496,593 respectively.