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Officials in Toronto Mayor John Tory’s offices were busy Thursday notifying his close contacts that he has tested positive for COVID-19.

Tory, who has helped lead the city’s pandemic response for more than two years, tested positive Thursday morning and in a statement he was feeling “fine” and isolating at home while working remotely.

Lawvin Hadisi, a spokesperson for the mayor’s office, told the Star that Tory first felt “extremely mild symptoms” Thursday morning.

Tory’s staff are following up with close contacts, Hadisi said, noting “most of the people the mayor meets on any given day would not be considered a close contact.”

A person infected with COVID-19 may be contagious up to 48 hours before symptoms manifest, according to an article published Tuesday by the Harvard Medical School. “That’s called presymptomatic transmission and it’s been a hallmark of COVID transmission since the very beginning of the pandemic,” said infectious disease expert Dr. Isaac Bogoch.

The mayor’s busy schedule this week has included days with multiple in-person events.

Photos on Tory’s official Twitter account from Wednesday show him at Bowmore Road Junior and Senior Public School for the International Day of Pink. Although Tory was masked for much of the event, he removed it to deliver a speech from the podium.

After the school assembly, Tory made an affordable housing announcement at an outdoor press conference in Scarborough, where he was joined by politicians including Coun. Ana Bailão (Ward 9, Davenport), Coun. Michael Thompson (Ward 21, Scarborough Centre) and Ahmed Hussen, federal minister of housing and diversity and inclusion.

Bailão, who is tripled vaccinated, said she tested negative Thursday morning. “I have no symptoms at all,” she told the Star.

Thompson said he tested negative Wednesday evening and will test again in the coming days in light of the mayor’s positive result. Thompson came down with COVID in December, but had a mild case, which he attributes to the fact that he was triple vaccinated at the time.

Hussen could not be reached for comment.

Later on Wednesday, Tory posed outside city hall, masked, with families newly arrived from Ukraine including six children with cancer being treated at the Hospital for Sick Children. In the evening, other photos show him, masked, hosting a Ramadan dinner inside city hall.

Reyhana Patel, a spokesperson for Islamic Relief Canada, which helped organize the event in partnership with the mayor’s office and the National Council of Canadian Muslims, said the mayor’s office was reaching out to all attendees.

Hadisi said Tory will self-isolate for at least five days, according to provincial guidance.

In his statement, the mayor, who has received three COVID-19 vaccine doses and is eligible next month for a fourth dose, said: “I am thankful that I have been fully vaccinated and have the best protection possible against COVID-19.

“I know this also gives me the best chance at a quick recovery so I can be back to a busy in-person schedule as soon as possible. Right now, I feel fine and have extremely mild symptoms so far.”

Tory’s office said he has been taking rapid tests daily “out of an abundance of caution given the number of events he attends” and tested negative on Wednesday.

Bogoch said most individuals are no longer contagious after 10 days. “What you can do to help is rapid tests,” he said. “If your rapid test is negative, you can more confidently assert that you’re not contagious to others.”

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