Rep. Jayapal positive for virus after sheltering with GOP members
WASHINGTON» After a mob of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol last week, forcing Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., to take shelter in a crowded committee room, she began preparing for the worst.
Many of the GOP membe r s of Congress hiding out with her were not wearing masks, she said, and had refused to accept them from a colleague. So, soon after Congress affirmed President- elect Joe Biden’s electoral victory later that night, she began to quarantine, fearing she could have contracted the coronavirus.
Her prediction turned to be right. Late Monday night, Jayapal announced that she had tested positive, making her the second Democratic representative to do so this week, after New Jersey Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman.
The two diagnoses come after Brian Monahan, the attending physician to Congress, warned over the weekend that lawmakers may have been exposed to the virus while taking cover from the rioters.
Jayapal, who said she was locked down in a committee room for hours with more than 100 people, placed the blame squarely on some of her GOP colleagues.
“Too many Republicans have refused to take this pandemic and virus seriously, and in doing so, they endanger everyone around them,” Jayapal said, accusing them of”creating a superspreader event on top of a domestic terrorist attack.”
Her statement pointed to a video published by Punchbowl News on Friday, which showed several maskless Republicans in the room with her — including Reps. Andy Biggs of Arizona, Michael Cloud of Texas, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma and Scott Perry of Pennsylvania — refusing surgical masks from Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, D-Del.