Third Democratic House member tests positive after lockdown in room with some maskless Republicans
Source: Washington Post
Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.) is the third Democratic House member in 24 hours to reveal he has tested positive for the coronavirus after being among the dozens who went into lockdown together in a committee room where several Republicans refused to wear masks.
“Last Wednesday, after narrowly escaping a violent mob incited by the President of the United States to attack the Capitol and its occupants, I was forced to spend several hours in a secure but confined location with dozens of other Members of Congress,” Schneider said in a statement. “Several Republican lawmakers in the room adamantly refused to wear a mask … Today, I am now in strict isolation, worried that I have risked my wife’s health and angry at the selfishness and arrogance of the anti-maskers who put their own contempt and disregard for decency ahead of the health and safety of their colleagues and our staff.”
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.) have also tested positive after being held in the crowded room while a violent mob stormed the Capitol. On Sunday, the Capitol attending physician alerted lawmakers who sheltered in that room that they may have been exposed to the virus and urged them to get tested. Several lawmakers are calling for the Republicans who refused to wear a mask, even when offered one by a Democratic colleague, to be fined and the House to take a more firm stance enforcing mask-wearing inside the Capitol.
“We can no longer tolerate Members coming to the floor or gathering in the halls of Congress without doing the bare minimum to protect those around them,” Schneider said. “Those that flout public health guidance should be sanctioned and immediately removed from the House floor by the Sergeant at Arms for their reckless endangerment of their colleagues.”
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/01/12/trump-impeachment-biden-transition-live-updates/#link-LM2RS2IX7ZBHBMM4HUURJJ7KWE
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