Hayes tests positive for COVID
U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes has tested positive for COVID-19.
Hayes, who represents Connecticut’s Fifth District, announced the news Sunday.
“This morning I received a positive COVID-19 test result and will be quarantined for the next 14 days.” said Hayes.
Hayes announced Saturday
that a staff member had tested positive for COVID-19, and that she and her staff were going to quarantine.
“I have been in close contact with the staffer and I have worked in both my CT and D.C. offices over the last week.” Hayes said in a post on her website Saturday. “All of my staff has been notified and directed to quarantine and get tested. I am asymptomatic and awaiting an appointment.”
Hayes said via email on Sunday that she visited two urgent care centers Saturday before finally getting an appointment for a COVID test at a third site.
“Contrary to popular belief, members of Congress do not get tested regularly. In fact we are not mass tested at all in D.C.,” she wrote. “Masks, social distancing and frequent floor cleanings are the precautions that are taken in the House. I have taken every possible precaution and still contracted the coronavirus.”
Offices for Hayes in both Connecticut and Washington, D.C., are operating remotely until further notice.
Hayes said Sunday the experience she and her staff have faced point to the need for a national testing strategy.
“This level of anxiety and uncertainty is untenable,” Hayes said. “I am asymptomatic, except for breathing issues which are being monitored. Please keep my family and my staff in your prayers.”
Hayes is the first member of Connecticut’s delegation to test positive for COVID.
This is the second time Hayes has announced she has quarantined herself because of the pandemic.
The first time was in April when her husband, Milford Hayes, a Waterbury police officer, tested positive for COVID-19 at his workplace.
Hayes is at least the 15th House member reported to have tested positive for COVID-19, and two U.S. senators have. Many more federal lawmakers have entered quarantine because of exposure to other infect people.