Democrat Congresswoman tests positive for coronavirus, blames Republicans

After midnight on Tuesday, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) announced that she tested positive for COVID-19, and promptly blamed her infection on Republican colleagues who refused to wear masks while lawmakers were locked down together during last week's Capitol riot.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, Jayapal said that while sheltering for multiple hours, several Republican lawmakers not only "cruelly refused" to wear a mask but also "mocked colleagues and staff who offered them one."

The congresswoman added that she quarantined immediately afterwards, claiming that she foresaw the diagnosis.

Jayapal said in her statement, "Only hours after President Trump incited a deadly assault on our Capitol, our country, and our democracy, many Republicans still refused to take the bare minimum COVID-19 precaution and simply wear a damn mask in a crowded room during a pandemic—creating a super-spreader event on top of a domestic terrorist attack."

Jayapal demanded "serious fines" be "immediately levied on members of Congress who refuse to wear a mask in the Capitol" and has called for their removal from the Congressional floor by the Sergeant at Arms.

However, the only Republicans known to have tested positively themselves have been Reps. Jake Turner of Kansas and Charles Fleischmann of Tennessee and neither of them were in the room with Rep. Jayapal.

Jayapal was seen on video in the House chamber during the invasion without a mask on her face.

Hours after Congress voted to certify Biden’s win, newly elected Republican Congressman from Kansas, Jake LaTurner, found out that he had tested positive for the virus late on Wednesday after the mob had been cleared from the Capitol. Rep. LaTurner’s communications director told Forbes that he was not present at the lockdown area in question and was wearing a mask throughout the day.

On Monday Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.) also tested positive for Covid-19 after sheltering with maskless colleagues last week, according to Forbes. Rep. Watson Coleman, who is 75 years old and a lung cancer survivor had received the first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine — which was made available to members of Congress — but the vaccine’s full protection takes two doses to kick in.