A Washington state congresswoman tested positive for coronavirus after taking refuge with several maskless lawmakers while a pro-Trump crowd besieged the Capitol last week.
Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal made public her diagnosis of COVID in a statement Monday night and criticized Republican lawmakers for refusing to put on masks inside a secured room during the closing hours of a few hours.
“There are too many Republicans who have refused to take this pandemic and this virus seriously and, in doing so, endanger everyone around them,” Jayapal wrote.
“Just hours after President Trump incited a deadly assault on our Capitol, our country and our democracy, many Republicans still refused to take the slightest caution from COVID-19 and simply wore a damn mask in a room full of people during a pandemic. an event of superextension in addition to a national terrorist attack. “
Jayapal is the second legislator known to test positive following the Capitol riots.
Earlier Monday, New Jersey Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman announced her positive diagnosis.
Coleman, too, took refuge with unmasked lawmakers, though it was not immediately clear if both she and Jayapal were in the same room.
On Sunday, Dr. Brian Monahan, head of the attending physician’s office in Congress, warned lawmakers that they may have been exposed to the virus as they crowded for shelter.
Jayapal has been in quarantine since the Capitol attack and said he plans to work in isolation.