Dem Congresswoman Tests Positive for Covid-19; Blames Republicans Who Wouldn’t Wear Masks During Capitol Lockdown

Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ) announced that she has tested positive for the coronavirus, and she believes she contracted it as a result of her Republican colleagues refusing to wear masks while the U.S. Capitol was under siege last week.

The representative released a press statement on Monday announcing “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,” said Watson Coleman. Her statement added that she previously received Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine when lawmakers and government leaders were given priority access to the first dose rollout.

Watson Coleman’s statement also takes aim at her Republican fellow representatives, saying she is convinced that “she was exposed during protective isolation in the U.S. Capitol building as a result of insurrectionist riots. As reported by multiple news outlets, a number of members within the space ignored instructions to wear masks.”

Ever since President Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol building last week, there have been a number of concerns that this would turn out to be a Covid super-spreader event. Trump sneered at the wearing of face masks throughout the pandemic, and very few of his supporters wore them as they rampaged through Congress.

As Watson Coleman’s statement addressed, there have been multiple accounts of Republican congressmen who refused to mask up while sheltering in place during the insurrection.

Congresswoman Susan Wild (D-PA) told the media that she took cover in a secure room where numerous people refused to wear masks, wouldn’t take one when offered to them, and some were “openly flaunting” their refusal to do it. There has also been a video of Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE) offering masks to Republicans Marjorie Taylor Greene, Markwayne Mullin, Andy Biggs, Scott Perry, Michael Cloud and Doug LaMalfa, all of whom declined to take one.