Rep. Pramila Jayapal tests positive following US Capitol siege
U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., announced Monday night that she has tested positive for COVID-19.
Jayapal was inside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., when a mob of President Donald Trump's supporters stormed the building last week.
"I just received a positive COVID-19 test result after being locked down in a secured room at the Capitol where several Republicans not only cruelly refused to wear a mask but recklessly mocked colleagues and staff who offered them one," Jayapal wrote on Twitter.
Jayapal and her colleagues in the House of Representatives were in the middle of certifying Electoral College votes when pro-Trump protesters who had been demonstrating outside broke into the Capitol building on Jan. 6. Some members of Congress were forced to evacuate while others had to shelter in place as authorities worked to secure the building.
"Only hours after Trump incited a deadly assault on our Capitol, many Republicans still refused to take the bare minimum COVID-19 precaution and simply wear a damn mask in a crowded room during a pandemic—creating a superspreader event ON TOP of a domestic terrorist attack," Jayapal tweeted.
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The congresswoman also called for members of Congress to be fined for not wearing face masks on Capitol grounds.
"Any Member who refuses to wear a mask should be fully held accountable for endangering our lives because of their selfish idiocy," she added. "I'm calling for every single Member who refuses to wear a mask in the Capitol to be fined and removed from the floor by the Sergeant at Arms."
Dr. Brian Monahan, the attending physician of Congress, advised representatives and congressional staff on Sunday that those in the secured room could have, “been exposed to another occupant with coronavirus infection," according to a statement from Jayapal's office.
Jayapal said she has been quarantining since last Thursday -- prior to her positive COVID-19 test -- amid fears she was exposed during the potential "superspreader event."