WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Representative Jahana Hayes tested positive for coronavirus on Sunday and has decided to quarantine for 14 days, she said on Twitter, becoming the latest member of Congress to test positive for COVID-19.
“I have taken every possible precaution and still contracted coronavirus,” Hayes, a Connecticut Democrat, said in a tweet. Hayes said she was asymptomatic except for breathing issues, which were being monitored.
At least 17 other members of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate – nine Republicans and seven Democrats – have tested positive or are presumed to have had COVID-19.
In July, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued a mask mandate for the House floor after Representative Louie Gohmert, who often refused to wear a mask, tested positive. Elsewhere in the Capitol, mask wearing is encouraged for lawmakers, but not mandated.
Hayes on Twitter said that though mask-wearing, social distancing and cleaning precautions are taken in the House of Representatives, members of Congress are not regularly tested for COVID-19.
(Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
