A Republican lawmaker Louie Gohmert, who walked around the Congress without sporting a mask, tested positive for the virus on Wednesday, as per CNN report.
The lawmakers informed that he was asymptomatic and downplayed his diagnosis. His result came before he was supposed to accompany President Donald Trump on his tour to Texas.
Gohmert had also said last week that putting a mask around the face makes him uncomfortable.
Gohmert posted a video on Twitter saying, “The reports of my demise are a great deal premature. “So I’m asymptomatic, I don’t have any of the symptoms that are listed as part of Covid-19, but apparently I have the Wuhan virus,” he said.
The news of his diagnosis rattled House Democrats, who demanded Speaker Nancy Pelosi to mandate the wearing of masks to the Congress.
The politics on mask-wearing has been the flashpoint of the country, where the President himself, on his July 11 appearance in public, chose to go without a mask. While other congresspeople vehemently opposed the attitude.
“Wear a damn mask,” said Democratic representative Jennifer Wexton from Virginia.
“I don’t know who needs to hear this, but if you’re a Member of Congress who refuses to wear a mask on Capitol Hill, you’re not only putting your colleagues at risk — you’re endangering the staff who works here, including many of my constituents,” she said as cited in the Agence-France Presse report.
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.