Adams Tests Positive for Covid, Prompting Him to Scale Back Schedule

Mayor Eric Adams of New York tested positive for Covid on Monday, prompting him to cancel two scheduled events and withdraw from the public eye as federal investigations swirl around him and members of his inner circle.

The positive test result was confirmed by Fabien Levy, the deputy mayor for communications, who said the mayor’s symptoms were mild. Mr. Adams made a scheduled appearance in Queens to discuss his administration’s flood-prevention efforts early in the day. He decided a Covid test was in order after he began to feel poorly, Mr. Levy said.

It was the second time Mr. Adams had tested positive for the virus since taking office.

Word of Mr. Adams’s infection came a day after he visited two Brooklyn churches, where he compared himself to the biblical figure Job as he sought to rally his supporters amid inquiries that threaten to hurt his ability to run the city.

Given Mr. Adams’s illness, Mr. Levy said, the mayor was unlikely to attend ceremonies planned for Wednesday to commemorate the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center towers and killed more than 2,700 people.

The mayor was expected on Tuesday to hold his regular weekly news briefing, although it was unclear whether he might do so from a remote setting.

Should he proceed with the briefing, it would be his first since federal inquiries involving several of his top aides burst into public view last week when investigators seized the phones of Edward A. Caban, the police commissioner, as well as the first deputy mayor, the schools chancellor and others. Agents also searched the home of a consultant whose brothers, David C. Banks and Philip Banks III, are the schools chancellor and the deputy mayor for public safety. (The mayor and his aides have not been accused of any crimes.)

Scrapped from the mayor’s Monday schedule was a planned discussion with Jewish leaders and news outlets in advance of the Jewish high holidays next month, as well as a community meeting on a contentious plan for redesigning sections of Underhill and Vanderbilt Avenues in Brooklyn to reduce car traffic. Mr. Adams was still expected to attend a planned briefing on what, according to the federal authorities, was a foiled plot to attack a Jewish center in Brooklyn.

Emma G. Fitzsimmons contributed reporting.