Tampa City Council member Orlando Gudes tests positive for coronavirus

TAMPA — Tampa City Council member Orlando Gudes has tested positive for the coronavirus.

Gudes said Friday that he’s doing well.

“I feel good,” Gudes told the Tampa Bay Times. “But I want everyone to go get tested. I don’t care who you are.”

Gudes said Mayor Jane Castor had suggested he get tested earlier in the week after one of her staff members became ill. He tried to get tested Tuesday, but wasn’t able to get a test until Wednesday.

Gudes, 52, has two elderly parents at home and said he was more concerned about their health.

He said he thinks he contracted the virus at a meeting, but can’t be sure which meeting it was.

The Tampa City Council canceled its meetings Thursday after chairman Guido Maniscalco said some city staff had been exposed to the virus.

Gudes’ case came the same day Hillsborough County School Board member Tamara Shamburger announced she had tested positive.

Their cases were announced in a release by the Hillsborough County black elected officials who stated that this should serve as “a wake up call.”

Gudes was elected to City Council last year, replacing term-limited Frank Reddick in District 5, which covers East Tampa, part of West Tampa and Seminole Heights and downtown.

A retired police officer, Gudes has been vocal during council meetings in recent months about getting adequate coronavirus testing in poorer, minority neighborhoods in his district.

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