Pa. State Rep. rips GOP members for silence after testing positive
A Pennsylvania state representative went on a profanity-laced tirade Wednesday against Republican House members who had tested positive f or COVID- 1 9 or came in contact with someone who had, and yet remained silent.
State Rep. Brian Sims, a Democrat out of the 182nd District in Philadelphia, released a nearly 12-minute long Facebook video calling out GOP members who have been pushing to re-open the state and down playing the seriousness of the novel coronavirus.
“Every single day of this crisis this State Government Committee in Pennsylvania has met so that their members could line up one after one after one and explain that it was safe to go back to work,” Sims said in the video. “During that time period they were testing positive. They were notifying one another. And they didn't notify us.”
Earlier this week coronavirus deaths exceeded 100,000 nationwide and over 5,200 in Pennsylvania.
In the video, Sims says that Democratic leadership became aware of at l east one Republication member of the House of Representatives who had tested positive for COVID19 and remained working in the capitol for at least one week.
Sims also criticized Rep. Russ Diamond of Lebanon County for self-quarantining without telling Democratic colleagues. Diamond has been a leading advocate for re-opening the state and according to Sims, he has remained quarantined for weeks.
In a Tweet Wednesday night, Diamond said he “self-quarantined but didn't get tested after possible COVID `contact.' “He said his doctor said there was no reason for him to get tested.
In his Facebook Live video, Sims said, “Of course he didn't explain that to any of us when he was in committee talking with us, walking up and down the aisle, bumping into us or letting us hold the door for him,” Sims said.
“I'm in a building surrounded by members who cannot go back to their families,” Sims said. “I need to know if it is safe for us to be back in this building.”
On Wednesday, May 27, Rep. Kevin J. Boyle (D-Philadelphia) and Democratic Chair for the House State Government Committee cited that he and his colleagues had discovered that fellow committee member Rep. Andrew Lewis (R-Dauphin) tested positive for COVID-19.
In a Facebook video Rep. Lewis shared his experience with COVID-19 noting he began filling ill on Saturday, May 16. He tested positive on Wednesday, May 20 and was last at the Capitol Buion May 14, he said.
“In my mind the people that were exposed deserved a little bit of time because I have not have a public schedule and only had interactions with a few people. And I think those people deserved a little window of time to get tested and do their isolation,” he said in the video. “I want to assure you throughout this whole thing I followed the isolation procedures, notified anyone I was in contact with and was in contact with the Department of Health on a daily basis.”
In a letter to Attorney General Shapiro, Boyle called for a formal investigation into the incident in which several Republican leadership members including Rep. Lewis, House Speaker Mike Turazi and House Majority Leader Brian Cutler failed to notify fellow committee and house members.
In the video Sims also calls for the Attorney General's office to launch an investigation on GOP members who tested positive and participated self-quarantining without notifying their Democratic colleagues.