Fury after US state lawmakers concealed Covid-19 diagnosis

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

The Covid-19 respiratory disease is caused by the coronavirus.

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 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 on 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 on Wednesday, saying that 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.

“The utter indifference to peoples’ lives ... proves that they are incapable, unqualified, and unwilling to faithfully discharge the duties of their office,” Representative Leanne Krueger said in a statement.

Republicans have repeatedly sought to downplay the dangers of the pandemic to Pennsylvania’s communities and refused to wear masks during legislative sessions, according to Sims.