OUTBREAK

Third Rep. Gets COVID-19 After Sheltering With Maskless GOP Colleagues

“Several Republican lawmakers in the room adamantly refused to wear a mask,” Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL) wrote in a statement Tuesday.

A third Democratic member of Congress has tested positive for COVID-19 after locking down with maskless legislators during Wednesday’s insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL) said Tuesday he’d tested positive for the virus. “I was forced to spend several hours in a secure but confined location with dozens of other Members of Congress,” Schneider wrote in a statement. “Several Republican lawmakers in the room adamantly refused to wear a mask.” A source told HuffPost that at least nine Republican lawmakers in the room were maskless. Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ) and Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) also said earlier this week they had tested positive for the virus, after sheltering in the room. Rep. Jake LaTurner (R-KS) said he had tested positive for the virus on Wednesday night—after voting to overturn the election results in the state of Arizona—but his spokesperson told the Topeka Capital-Journal that he was not present in the room.