Rand Paul, R-Ky., on Sunday became the first senator known to have tested positive for COVID-19.
“Senator Rand Paul has tested positive for COVID-19,” Paul’s account tweeted. “He is feeling fine and is in quarantine. He is asymptomatic and was tested out of an abundance of caution due to his extensive travel and events. He was not aware of any direct contact with any infected person.”
“He expects to be back in the Senate after his quarantine period ends and will continue to work for the people of Kentucky at this difficult time,” the thread continued. “Ten days ago, our D.C. office began operating remotely, hence virtually no staff has had contact with Senator Rand Paul.”
Paul’s chief of staff, NBC News reports, later clarified that he “decided to get tested after attending an event where two individuals subsequently tested positive for COVID-19, even though he wasn’t aware of any direct contact with either one of them.”
Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., told colleagues at Sunday’s policy meeting that he saw Paul at the Senate gym earlier in the day, his communications director confirmed on Twitter.
Paul’s account later tweeted that he visited the gym before he found out he had tested positive.
Paul is the third member of Congress to announce a positive test for the coronavirus, following Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., and Ben McAdams, D-Utah. Several Republican lawmakers also self-quarantined this month after they learned that they had interacted with someone who tested positive for the virus at the Conservative Political Action Conference.
The White House said President Donald Trump, who attended CPAC and also interacted with multiple people at his Florida resort who later found out they were infected, tested negative for the virus.
In an interview with NBC News, Diaz-Balart said Saturday that he is feeling better after a week but that the initial symptoms hit him “like a ton of bricks.” McAdams, meanwhile, said on NBC News’ “Today” last week that the symptoms “felt like I had a belt around my chest, and so I couldn’t breathe deeply.”
