Democratic politician says she has Covid after sheltering during riot with maskless GOP members

Democratic New Jersey Representative Bonnie Watson Coleman tested positive for Covid-19 after sheltering with maskless members of Congress during the storming of the Capitol.

Ms Watson Coleman put out a statement saying that she “believes she was exposed during protective isolation in the U.S. Capitol building as a result of insurrectionist riots”. 

Linking to an article by The Washington Post  the statement said “a number of members within the space ignored instructions to wear masks”.

“I received a positive test result for COVID-19, and am home resting at this time. While I am experiencing mild, cold-like symptoms, I remain in good spirits and will continue to work on behalf of my constituents," Ms Watson Coleman said. 

The 75-year-old has previously received her first dose out of two of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. 

The vaccine was “made available to members of Congress, the Supreme Court, and Executive Branch agencies for the purposes of continuity of government operations,” the statement said.

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On Sunday morning, the Congress attending physician Brian Monahan sent out an email to members saying “individuals may have been exposed to another occupant with coronavirus infection,” during the lockdown of the Capitol complex, The Washington Post reported. 

A video published by Punchbowl News shows numerous members interacting in close proximity to each other while not wearing masks. 

The video shows at least four maskless Republicans refusing masks being offered by Democratic Representative Lisa Blunt Rochester.  Ms Blunt Rochester said she was “disappointed” in her fellow members who didn’t wear masks. 

The statement from the office of Ms Watson Coleman said that she’s isolating and awaiting results of further tests. 

Experts have said that the Capitol storming may have been a superspreader event as the US hits over 22 million total cases and 374,000 deaths. Just on January 10, over 208,000 cases were reported according to data from The New York Times.

The seven-day average have passed over 3000 deaths a day, according to The Washington Post. 

During an interview with Face the Nation on CBS on Sunday, Scott Gottlieb, the former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration said that “There’s going to be chains of transmission that come out of that kind of mass gathering".

“The crowd wasn’t adhering to what we know are good practices in terms of mask-wearing and other things. I think they deliberately eschewed those things."

The Director of the CDC Robert Redfield told McClatchy that we have to assume that this will be a “surge event”.  

“You had largely unmasked individuals in a non-distanced fashion, who were all through the Capitol,” Dr Redfield said. 

“These individuals all are going in cars and trains and planes going home all across the country,” Dr Redfield said, indicating that the storming of the Capitol will contribute to a rise in Covid cases all over the United States. 

Dr Redfield said that the days of thousands of deaths a day are far from over. 

“We’re going to continue to see mortality in the 2,500-5,000 a day range,” he said. 

“This is going to continue to get worse through January, and probably parts of February before we really start to turn the corner.”