US: Two US Congress members have tested positive for the COVID-19, with one on Tuesday accusing Republicans of refusing to wear masks and mocking those who did during a riot at the legislature last week.
In a tweet, Democratic Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal said she had taken a test after being trapped in a secure room with fellow lawmakers and tested positive.
“Many Republicans still declined to take the bare minimum COVID-19 precaution and simply wear a damn mask in a crowded room while a pandemic – creating a superspreader event on top of a domestic terrorist attack,” Jayapal, who is now self-isolating, said.
“The duration in the room was many hours, and several Republicans not only cruelly refused to wear a mask but challenged colleagues and staff who offered them one.”
Hours earlier, fellow Democratic congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman said she too had caught the virus and that she believed she had been exposed to it as last week’s violence.
“She believes she was exposed during protective isolation in the US Capitol building as a result of insurrectionist riots,” her office said in a statement.
Top Congressional doctor Brian Monahan warned lawmakers over the weekend that they could have been exposed to the virus after taking shelter in an isolation room last Wednesday.
Merely hours after pro-Trump protestors stormed the US Capitol to demand Congress reverse the November 3 election success of President-elect Joe Biden, Congressman Jake LaTurner examined positive for the virus.
The United States of America remains the world’s hardest-hit country, and some 375,000 people have died from the coronavirus — with about 3,000 more dying every day.
In her statement following her positive diagnosis, Congresswoman Jayapal told colleagues that refused to wear masks were guilty of “selfish idiocy” and should not be allowed to take their seats in the chamber.
