Miami Police Chief Tests Positive For Coronavirus

MIAMI, FL — Miami Police Chief Jorge Colina said he tested positive for the new coronavirus less than a month after the city's mayor announced he had beaten the virus.

"My symptoms are mild. My spirits are high and I have every reason to believe that I will have a full recovery," the chief told his officers and civilian employees in an email.

Colina did not say how he contracted the virus. He self-quarantined in March after Mayor Francis Suarez tested positive. But the chief did not test positive at that time.

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Suarez told Patch he developed only minor symptoms. "I was very fortunate," Suarez said recently. "The worst symptoms that I experienced were some body pain in the beginning that I basically took Tylenol for. I had congestion for a couple of days. My body temperature never got to 100. I was very fortunate. I got a very, very mild case."

Officer Michael Vega of the Miami Police Department told Patch on Sunday that the agency had about seven people test positive.

"I am following our internal policies and entering self-isolation until follow-up tests determine that I am no longer at risk for spreading the virus to coworkers," the chief said in his email to the agency.

Colina named Deputy Chief Ronald Papier as the acting chief in his absence.

"For your safety and that of your fellow employees, please continue to follow our departmental directives regarding personal protective measures and social distancing," the chief's email said. "Thank you for the work you each continue to do on behalf of our community and stay safe."

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Suarez, who has two young children, tested positive for the new coronavirus in March after spending time with the president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, and Fabio Wajngarten, the Brazilian president's press secretary. Wajngarten later tested positive for the illness.

U.S. Sen. Rick Scott of Florida and Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez also self-quarantined themselves after meeting Bolsonaro.

South Florida Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart became the first member of Congress to announce that he, too, tested positive for the new coronavirus. It was not clear how Diaz-Balart was exposed.