News

26 Mississippi Legislators Test Positive For Coronavirus

The Mississippi State Capitol in Jackson saw over 26 lawmakers diagnosed with the coronavirus, according to the state health officials on Wednesday.

The lawmakers at the Capitol in June worked together without wearing face masks or social distancing in the building. The outbreak is so far the biggest one in any state legislature in the country.

Following the growing number of cases within the Capitol, hundreds of staff were tested Monday.

Mississippi State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs had a press conference Tuesday to explain the testing within the state legislature.

Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter!

A week of political news in your in-box.
We find the news you need to know, so you don't have to.

“Because of how many people they’ve been around, we want to go ahead and offer testing to pretty much everybody in the Capitol — staff and legislators — so we can go ahead and get people diagnosed and isolated as quickly as possible,” Dobbs said.

Mississippi legislators initially were working from home since March due to the outbreak. When they returned to the Capitol briefly in May, they took social distancing seriously.

However, as the building fully opened in June, many of the legislators started to bend the social distancing rules, which eventually led to the outbreak.

As of Saturday, Mississippi reported more than 35,000 COVID-19 cases, with over 1200 deaths.

Dongyoon Shin

Share
Published by
Dongyoon Shin

Recent Posts

VIDEO: Veteran Escorted Out Of GOP Rep. Chuck Edwards’ Town Hall For Protesting Trump’s Budget Cuts For Vets

https://youtu.be/8Ps9DIuo8Pg A man who identified himself as a veteran was escorted out Republican Rep. Chuck…

9 hours ago

VIDEO: Vice President JD Vance Booed At Kennedy Center Concert

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/x0Zmyug302w Vice President JD Vance was booed on March 13 as he took his seat…

9 hours ago

VIDEO: Jewish Protest Group Occupies Trump Tower In Support Of Palestinian Activist Mahmoud Khalil

https://youtu.be/Gx3360VdPTk Members of a Jewish-led protest group took over the lobby of Trump Tower in…

22 hours ago

Trump Administration Withdraws Nomination Of Vaccine Skeptic Dave Weldon For Director Of CDC

The Trump Administration has withdrawn its nomination of Dave Weldon, a former Republican congressman and…

22 hours ago

56% Of Americans Disapprove Of Trump’s Economic Policies, New Poll Shows

A new CNN poll reveals that a majority of respondents disapprove of President Donald Trump’s…

22 hours ago

After Senate Democrats Vow To Reject GOP Spending Bill, Government Shutdown Seems Increasingly Likely

A government shutdown is becoming increasingly likely as Senate Democrats refuse to support a Republican…

1 day ago