Coronavirus creeps into Congress, infecting 5 representatives so far
COVID-19 has proven itself discriminatory to no one, especially those on Capitol Hill.
The first one fell on March 18. Now there are five confirmed cases in Congress, where social distancing sometimes means missed votes.
Republican Representative Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida tested positive for the novel coronavirus just over a week ago. Democratic Rep. Ben McAdams of Utah followed suit.
And Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky was the first U.S. senator to test positive for the virus last Sunday.
Utah Sens. Mitt Romney and Mike Lee announced they would be self-quarantining upon hearing Paul’s test results; Romney has since tested negative. Fellow senators and staffers were angry at Paul’s lack of effort to follow suggested isolation when he became aware of his contact with COVID-19.
Paul defended himself on Twitter, stating the guidelines at the time neither called for him to get tested nor quarantine. The Kentucky Republican continued in the statement that it was his “extra precaution” out of concern for his damaged lung that led him to get tested.
Since then, Democratic Rep. Joe Cunningham of South Carolina announced he too tested positive alongside Republican Rep. Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania.
At least 36 members of Congress have announced measures to self-quarantine after either feeling ill or coming in contact with an infected individual — or simply as a precaution. Congress members such as Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), Rep. Adam Schiff (D-N.Y.), Rep. Rick Scott (R.-Fla.), Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) are a few of the three dozen senators working from home.
Cruz announced his quarantine on March 8 after coming in contact with someone infected at the Conservative Political Action Conference (C.P.A.C.); Scott doing the same after coming into contact with a member of the Brazilian delegation who tested positive. President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence were at the same Mar-a-Lago event with Scott — both tested negative for COVID-19 after.
The White House itself had its own slew of self-quarantined officials. Trump’s incoming chief of staff, G.O.P. Rep. Mark Meadows of North Carolina, self-quarantined after coming in contact with an infected person from C.P.A.C., the same event Cruz attended.
But even while social distancing, lawmakers have been working on a coronavirus economic relief bill. The stimulus package plan passed the Senate unanimously on Wednesday; on Friday, it passed the House and Trump subsequently signed it into law. The package asks the Treasury to send one-time relief checks to many Americans, provides loans to small businesses, bolsters funding for health care and increases unemployment benefits.
This is one of many measures being enacted to combat the novel coronavirus pandemic which has penetrated 176 countries and regions; there are almost 587,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases and over 27,000 deaths as of March 27, according to Johns Hopkins’ Center for Systems Science and Engineering live tracker. In the U.S., there have been close to 98,000 recognized cases across all states and more than 1,500 deaths.
The U.S. became the country with the most overall diagnoses and active cases in the world on March 26, surpassing China and Italy.
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