Louie Gohmert, 66, said he was asymptomatic and played down his diagnosis (AFP)
Washington:
A Republican lawmaker who has made a habit of walking around Congress without a mask tested positive for the novel coronavirus on Wednesday as he prepared to leave for his native Texas with President Donald Trump.
Louie Gohmert announced his diagnosis a day after attending a major hearing featuring testimony from Attorney General Bill Barr, who he was seen walking and chatting with at a close distance while neither was wearing a mask.
The news angered House Democrats and prompted Speaker Nancy Pelosi to order masks to be worn on the bedroom floor – with dismissal punishment for anyone disobeying.
Gohmert, 66, said he was asymptomatic and played down his diagnosis.
He has worn a mask sporadically in recent weeks, and suggested Wednesday that moving it over his face because it is uncomfortable “puts germs in the mask” and maybe it caused his infection.
Even as the pandemic rages on in the United States, Trump has steadfastly ignored recommendations from American medical experts that people wear masks to help curb the spread of the virus and he did not wear one in public until after. 11 July.
Since then, Republican lawmakers who avoided masks have started wearing them more regularly. But to wear or not to wear a mask remains a political flashpoint in the country.
Gohmert was tested at the White House on Wednesday because he was supposed to accompany Trump on a visit to Texas.
“So I’m asymptomatic, I don’t have any of the symptoms listed as part of COVID-19, but apparently I have the Wuhan virus,” Gohmert said in a video using a term that angers China.
Gohmert said he had worn the mask more in the past week or two than in the past four months, and did so during Tuesday’s hearing with Barr.
But he took it off a few times and was seen walking and talking with Barr before the hearing.
“Wear a goddamn mask,” said Democratic Representative Jennifer Wexton of Virginia.
“I don’t know who needs to hear this, but if you’re a congressman who refuses to wear a mask on Capitol Hill, you’re not just putting your colleagues at risk – you’re putting the staff who work here at risk. including many of my constituents, ”she said.
(This story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
