Ridgefield First Selectman Rudy Marconi returned to his traditional workplace Friday, May 15, after a coronavirus test he took earlier last week came out negative.
Macklin Reid / Hearst Connecticut MediaRudy’s back at his office in town hall.
Ridgefield First Selectman Rudy Marconi returned to his traditional workplace Friday, May 15, after a coronavirus test he took earlier last week came out negative.
“Great,” Marconi said when asked how it felt to be in the office again. “It’s good to be back in the routine. It was good to see everybody who works here, thanking them for everything they do.”
Marconi’s return to town hall ended over a month and half of recovery and self-quarantining. He’d tested positive for the coronavirus after coming home from an April 1 selectmen’s meeting feeling ill. He then suffered through a serious bout with COVID-19 that had him on oxygen.
Once he began feeling better, Marconi worked from home and conducted town business through Zoom meetings. But he wasn’t returning to work until he tested negative.
The last week or two, Marconi has felt quite good. He went through a test he thought would clear him to return to the office, but he was told it was “presumptive positive” and he had to remain home longer.
Last week, he finally tested negative.
“I took the test Tuesday morning and it came back Wednesday night,” he said Monday. “My doctor called me to say: ‘You’re normal.’ ”
Friday, he went back to the office.
The town hall he returned to had maybe half as many workers in the building, with many people working from home, and some rotating with colleagues. There were 14 in the building Monday, he said, spread through various offices on the three floors. Normally, there are 28 employees in the building.
Marconi was grateful for the job all his co-workers had done while he was out.
“The town didn’t skip a beat, really,” he said.