Fury after Pennsylvania lawmakers concealed Covid-19 diagnosis

WASHINGTON: Republicans in the US state of Pennsylvania faced calls for their resignation Thursday after a lawmaker tested positive for Covid-19 and they did not tell Democratic colleagues for a full week.

Democrats in the state’s House of Representatives erupted in anger for having their health and that of their families put at risk, with one calling the chamber’s Republican leadership “callous liars” for withholding the information even as the House remained in session.

They said Representative Andrew Lewis declined for several days to publicly disclose his Covid-19 diagnosis and leadership refused to announce it.

Democrats said three other Republicans exposed to Lewis eventually went into quarantine, but not before they served alongside Democrats in several sessions and committee meetings.

“Meanwhile... during that time period they were testing positive. They were notifying one another, and they didn’t notify us,” a visibly angry Democratic Representative Brian Sims said in a video late Wednesday after learning about Lewis’s diagnosis.

Republicans hid the diagnosis because they feared it would clash with their narrative that “it was safe to be interacting with other people” and to return to work, Sims added.

“This is the height of Republican hypocrisy.”

Lewis released a statement saying he tested positive on May 20 and immediately entered quarantine, but did not announce his condition out of privacy concerns.

He had attended legislative sessions until May 14, and while leadership advised some Republicans in contact with Lewis to self-isolate, they revealed nothing to Democrats.

Sims and other Democrats called for the resignation of House Speaker Mike Turzai and other Republican leaders for failing to disclose a member’s Covid-19 diagnosis.—