Three US lawmakers test Covid+ after riot

WASHINGTON: Three members of the US Congress have tested positive for Covid-19, with one accusing Republicans of refusing to wear masks and mocking those who did during a riot at the US Capitol last week.

In a tweet, Democratic Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal said she took a test after being trapped in a secure room with fellow lawmakers, and she has tested positive. “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,” said Jayapal, who is self-isolating.

“The duration in the room was multiple hours and several Republicans not only cruelly refused to wear a mask but mocked colleagues and staff who offered them one,” she added.

Hours earlier, fellow Democratic congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman said she had contracted the coronavirus disease and that she believed she had been exposed to it during last week’s violence.

On Tuesday, a third Democratic member of the Congress tested positive. “I was forced to spend several hours in a secure but confined location with dozens of other members of Congress,” Representative Brad Schneider of Illinois said.

Manatee in Florida had ‘Trump’ drawn on back

Wildlife officials are investigating reports of a manatee found with “Trump” drawn on its back in a Florida river. The aquatic mammal was spotted in the Homosassa River in Citrus County, the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said. The area is 130km north of Tampa.

The manatee does not appear to be seriously injured, officials said. It appears that the word was written in algae that had grown on the animals back, not scratched into its skin.

Deutsche Bank won’t do biz with Trump: Report

Deutsche Bank will not do business in the future with US President Donald Trump or his companies in the wake of the riot, The New York Times reported.

Deutsche Bank is Trump’s biggest lender, with reportedly about $340 million in loans outstanding to the Trump Organization, the president’s umbrella group overseen by his two sons.