Pressley Infuriated After Husband Gets COVID Following Siege

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BOSTON — Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley is taking aim at U.S. Capitol health and safety protocols as well as her Republican colleagues after her husband tested positive for the coronavirus on Wednesday.

Pressley tested negative for the virus. She was with her husband, Conan Harris, when they were barricaded in the Capitol complex during last week's riots alongside several Republican legislators who refused to wear masks. Pressley has been open about having alopecia, which is an autoimmune disease. Some alopecia medication affects the immune system, which can lead to a greater risk of complications for someone infected with COVID-19, according to the National Alopecia Areata Foundation.

"Their arrogant disregard for the lives of others is infuriating but not surprising, and we are seeing the consequences of it daily, as several of my colleagues — and now my husband — test positive for COVID-19," Pressley said in a statement.


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Pressley and Harris are in isolation.

So far, three U.S. representatives have tested positive for COVID-19 following the Capitol riot: Rep. Brad Schneider of Illinois, Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington and Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman of New Jersey.

Pressley said she was continuing to represent Massachusetts' 7th Congressional District and was voting in the impeachment of President Donald Trump. She called the Trump administration "criminally negligent" and sympathized with families who fell victim to the virus this year.

"I am deeply outraged by the criminal negligence of the current administration in responding to this crisis along with their accomplices in Congress who continue to downplay the severity of a virus that has claimed the lives of over 380,000 Americans," Pressley said in her statement.

She added that there needs to be a change in health and safety protocols in the Capitol, calling for mask mandates, fines and removal from the House floor for those who do not comply.

Pressley told reporter Joy Reid the fear she felt during the Capitol riot last week was "familiar in the most ancestral way."

Sarah Groh, Pressley's chief of staff, told The Boston Globe that the panic buttons in the congresswoman's office were ripped out of the walls and that she, Pressley and Harris were escorted to a secure location by officers they "did not know or trust."


This article originally appeared on the Boston Patch