A City College of San Francisco board member tested positive for coronavirus after being activated by the National Guard to protect the California State Capitol from potential inauguration unrest, he said Tuesday.
Alan Wong, a freshman member of the CCSF Board of Trustees, announced that he tested positive for coronavirus on Tuesday after experiencing symptoms since his return from Sacramento. He considered the fever, chills, headaches, muscle cramps, and fatigue “red flags” and immediately scheduled a test.
“The symptoms have been pretty sucky,” Wong said. “The coronavirus is definitely hard on the body. These test results are very concerning to me because I live with family members that may be more vulnerable to COVID-19. While quarantining at home, I will be exercising increased precautions to prevent spreading the virus to family members.”
The Sunset District native was one of about 1,000 California National Guard members deployed to Sacramento to provide security the weekend before President Joe Biden’s inauguration. The Federal Bureau of Investigations warned that armed demonstrators could target state capitols in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol in which five people died and legislators were heavily endangered.
Wong said he was in Sacramento for eight days, working 18-20 hour days, and returned on Saturday. He’s a National Guard veteran of more than 11 years and has been deployed numerous times to respond to disasters and the California wildfires.
He is also a legislative aide to District 4 Supervisor Gordon Mar, who also tested positive for coronavirus in August. He praised essential workers for their “bravery and selflessness.”
“It really makes me think about the emergency responders and essential workers who are out there every day serving our community and taking those risks that many of us are relying on them for,” Wong said. “I encourage everyone to follow our public health orders, because it’s so important that we contain the virus at this critical stage while we’re getting the vaccines out and hopefully starting to get everything under control.”
imojadad@sfexaminer.com
