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CORONAVIRUS
MTA Chairman Patrick Foye tested pos-
itive for coronavirus, an agency spokes-
man said Saturday.
Foye was tested after he began exhib-
iting symptoms of COVID-19 on Friday,
said MTA spokesman Tim Minton.
Foye (photo) chaired a Metropolitan
Transportation Authority board meeting
Wednesday, at which most attendees
called in via video chat.
But New York’s top transit honcho
was in the same room as other vital
agency officials like Mario Peloquin, the
MTA’s chief operating officer, NYC
Transit President Sarah Feinberg and
head of New York City subways Sally
Librera.
Foye worked from home Thursday
and Friday due to a “previously arranged
schedule” and “is currently isolating at
home, feeling good and maintaining his
full schedule,” said agency spokeswom-
an Abbey Collins.
Foye was “feeling reasonably well”
Saturday, said Minton, who compared
the chairman’s condition to that of Port
Authority Executive Director Rick Cot-
ton, who recently returned to work after
catching coronavirus.
The chairman’s positive test comes
two days after the MTA confirmed atleast 156 COVID-19 cases among its
workforce of some 71,000 people.
Another 1,181 transit employees re-
mained at home quarantined as of
Thursday, and an untold number more
called in sick.
The worker shortage has strained the
MTA’s ability to run full subway and bus
services, which are still used by front-line
health care workers and first responders.
“[Foye’s] top priority remains the
health and safety of our customers and
employees and ensuring New York’s
health care workers, first responders and
other essential personnel can get to and
from work during this public health cri-
sis,” Collins said.MTA Chairman Foye
tests positive for bug
BY CLAYTON GUSE
NEWS TRANSIT REPORTERBARRY WILLIAMS/NEW YORK DAILY NEWSAn immigrant priest
who served Brooklyn’s
Mex i c a n c o m m u n i t y
was the first U.S. Catho-
lic cleric to die of co-
ronavirus, Diocese of
Brooklyn officials said
Saturday.
The Rev. Jorge Ortiz-
Ga ray, 49, a b e l ove d
Mexico City-born priest,
died Friday evening at
Wyckoff Medical Cen-
ter, the diocese said.
Father Jorge, as wor-
shipers knew him, was
the diocesan coordina-
tor of the ministry for
Mex i c a n -A m e r i c a n s ,
among other duties.
“This is a sad day and
atremendous loss for
the Diocese of Brook-lyn,” said Bishop Nicho-
las DiMarzio.
“Father Jorge was a
great priest, beloved by
the Mexican people, and
atireless worker for all
the faithful in Brooklyn
and Queens.”
Ortiz-Garay was or-
dained in the Diocese ofNewark at the age of 33
in 2004 and came to
Brooklyn five years later.
He coordinated the
diocese’s annual Our
Lady of Guadalupe Feast
Day, at which thousands
of Catholics attend a
Mass before joining a
to r c h - l i t p i l g r i m a g e
through the streets of
Brooklyn and Queens.
The busy priest was
also pastor of St. Brigid’s
Ch u r c h i n Wy c k o f f
Heights. He had previ-
ously served at St. Jo-
seph’s Parish in Prospect
Heights.
Amemorial mass will
be celebrated at a later
date. Ortiz-Garay is sur-
vived by his parents,
Jorge and Estella Ortiz,
si b l i n g s , n i e c e s a n d
nephews.B’klyn pastor first Catholic
priest killed by virus in U.S.
Rev. Jorge Ortiz-Garay was
pastor in Wyckoff Heights.BY LARRY MCSHANE
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS