Republican NC senator tested positive for coronavirus a day after votes
A Republican state senator might have had coronavirus while lawmakers were back in Raleigh earlier this week, Senate leader Phil Berger announced Friday.
Berger did not say who it was, but Sen. Danny Britt of Lumberton tweeted Friday afternoon that he was the one who tested positive.
After Democratic Sen. Jay Chaudhuri of Raleigh tweeted his frustration that many Republican lawmakers have not been wearing masks at the legislature, Britt responded that he was the one who had tested positive.
“My apologies my friend I was actually the one who tested positive and though I wear a mask on occasion I do not always,” Britt wrote in a tweet that was later deleted. “I developed a medical condition from serving in Iraq in 06-07 and Kuwait in 11-12. That condition causes extreme difficulty in breathing in wearing masks.”
Berger said the lawmaker tested negative shortly before the votes earlier this week began, only to test positive later. The last day of voting was Wednesday. The test was Thursday and the results came back Friday, Berger said.
“He was not symptomatic when he took the second test,” Berger said. “He is staying home and feels well.“
Berger spokeswoman Lauren Horsch later said that in the wake of the news, they’re “encouraging any member who thinks they need to get tested to get tested.”
Veto votes
The votes Wednesday included several unsuccessful attempts to override Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s vetoes of various coronavirus-related reopening bills.
The veto override votes failed along party lines, with Republicans in the majority failing to get Democratic support to pass the bills that would have canceled large parts of Cooper’s executive orders. Cooper has said his orders are aimed at keeping certain businesses like bars and gyms closed in an attempt to stop the spread of coronavirus.
Critics say those orders are harming the economy too much, but supporters say short-term closures are needed so that the state can safely reopen in the long term.
Also Wednesday, a group of conservative protesters from the Reopen NC group came to the legislature, hoping to meet with lawmakers to convince them to impeach Cooper. It’s unclear if any of them may have met with the senator who tested positive the next day.
A lobbyist who had been at the General Assembly recently also tested positive for coronavirus, The News & Observer reported, although it wasn’t immediately announced whether the senator’s case is connected.
At the time, legislative leaders said all the lawmakers who had interacted with that lobbyist got tests and were negative.
Politics of wearing masks
Face masks have been proven to be an effective way to stop the spread of coronavirus, although many Republicans at the legislature have declined to wear them.
Even after Cooper passed an order making mask-wearing mandatory in public, GOP leaders at the legislature said they don’t think Cooper’s order applied to the legislature. However, some Republicans including Berger have worn masks at least some of the time.
Back in April when the legislature first reconvened for its 2020 session, the top Democrat in the N.C. House, Knightdale Rep. Darren Jackson, implored members of both parties to wear masks.
Later on The News & Observer surveyed all 170 lawmakers to ask if they were wearing masks, and why or why not. Most did not respond, including nearly 90% of Republicans. The 51 Democrats and 12 Republicans who did respond to the survey all said they were wearing masks at least some of the time.
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