Virus scare tests Texas House as member tests positive
Michelle Beckley has spent 10 months avoiding a virus she can’t afford to get.
The small business owner and Democratic state representative follows health guidelines, is tested daily for the coronavirus, and even sat out the first day of the new legislative session this week as someone with underlying health issues. She returned Wednesday for in-person voting, under the impression that her colleagues were required to take some of the same precautions.
But on Thursday night, Beckley learned that her seatmate in the lower chamber, Rep. Joe Deshotel, D-Beaumont, had tested positive after not being screened for days. It was one of several probable infections among politicians and staff that Beckley is already aware of as the new session gets underway.
“I am angry and frustrated,” she said Friday morning, while back home in Carrollton under quarantine. “It could have been avoided and it shouldn’t have happened.”
The exposure, announced Friday morning, is an early test for the Republican-led House, which has been determined to carry out as open and unrestricted a session as possible even as the pandemic rages in Austin and across most of the state. Testing is optional for lawmakers, masks aren’t required at all times, and members’ desks are spaced well within the 6 feet of separation that is recommended by health officials.
Deshotel, 69, said he tested positive after taking a free rapid test on his way out of the Capitol on Thursday, after last testing negative Monday.
He said he wore a mask most of the time while he was on the House floor this week, sometimes removing it to speak at a microphone. A photo from the Texas Tribune on Thursday shows him seated at his desk with his mask pulled down below his nose and mouth, as several masked lawmakers talked and worked nearby.
Deshotel received the first of two doses of the Moderna vaccine last month and appeared to be under the false impression that it gave him immunity; it takes
a few weeks for antibodies to begin building after the first dose. He also said he was unaware that daily testing is recommended for lawmakers.
“I’ve never heard of anybody getting tested every day,” he said, adding that he did not know that the Senate had added that as part of its rules. “I don’t mind doing it.”
It’s unclear how many lawmakers were potentially exposed, and House leadership is not conducting any contact tracing. In a memo sent late Friday morning, newly elected Speaker Dade Phelan told members that the chamber was following federal recommendations, which call for anyone exposed to quarantine for seven to 10 days. It said testing “is left to the discretion of each House member.”
None of the members had proposed mandating testing on Thursday, when the rules were discussed.
A spokesman for Phelan said the speaker has talked with Deshotel and “hopes for a speedy recovery.” The House isn’t expected to reconvene again until Jan. 26.
Rep. Erin Zwiener, D-Driftwood, announced on Twitter that she had also been in close contact with Deshotel and would be quarantining.
“Grateful that I chose to wear a N95 on the floor, and grateful that Rep. Deshotel chose to inform colleagues quickly and set a tone of transparency for this session,” she wrote. Zwiener had been wearing a cloth mask on top of the more protective N95 face covering while on the House floor.
Beckley said her office has been receiving 40 rapid tests per week, which they self-administer. They have also been taking temperature checks each morning and the office is closed to inperson visits. She said staffers in other offices have reportedly tested positive, but there is no central database tracking infections or outbreaks.
“Our rules are not adequate,” she said.
Responding to the announcement Friday, Rep. Justin Holland, R-Rockwall, called those who aren’t testing themselves regularly “selfish.”
“The 15-min free state-provided Rapid Binax Test for Antigens is painless and simple,” he tweeted, before it was widely known that Deshotel was the person who had tested positive. “Anyone that objected to take one prior to Tuesday clearly did so out of pride. Shame on them.”
Beckley was one of two House Democrats who sat out the opening ceremony on Tuesday because of the exposure risk. She returned on Wednesday and Thursday because the House was deciding rules for the session, which required an in-person vote.
“I had to be there on the floor to vote,” she said, adding that she takes her responsibility to her constituents seriously. “But I have to be healthy to do it.”