Illinois House members told to self-quarantine after positive coronavirus test at Springfield convention center
Members of the Illinois House and staff were told to self-quarantine if they were at the Bank of Springfield Center on Thursday because someone who was at the facility tested positive for the coronavirus.
The instructions were issued in a memo from Jessica Basham, the chief of staff to the new House speaker, Emanuel “Chris” Welch.
“All members and staff who were at the BoS Center today, or around someone who was, should self-quarantine,” Basham wrote in an email to House members and staff. “I’m awaiting more specific information and instructions from DPH and will share them ASAP.”
The House convened for a brief time Thursday morning after the previous day’s inauguration and election of Welch to replace longtime House Speaker Michael Madigan.
The chamber’s lame-duck session, which began Friday, was held in the cavernous downtown Springfield convention center to ensure proper social distancing. Members and staff were required to wear masks except when eating or drinking, but enforcement was lax, despite repeated reminders during debates.
When lawmakers met at the convention center for a pandemic-driven special session in late May, they were told a worker had tested positive, but the facility’s general manager later told The State Journal-Register in Springfield that the employee was ill but tested negative for the coronavirus.
