Missouri Senate dealing with COVID-positive member who was in two committee meetings
A Republican state Senator who participated in two lengthy committee hearings this week has tested positive for COVID-19, Senate Democratic leader John Rizzo said Friday.
Rizzo, D-Independence, said he was informed of the positive test on Thursday evening. Democratic staff have begun informing senators about their possible exposure.
“I told my caucus so they could be aware if they had been in close contact with that person so they could be in quarantine,” said Rizzo, who declined to identify the member.
It is too early to know whether the case will disrupt the Senate schedule for next week, when the highlight is supposed to be Gov. Mike Parson’s State of the State address on Wednesday. The House canceled this week’s session in an attempt to control an outbreak of COVID-19 in that chamber.
“We are still at the point of contact tracing the spread and all of that first,” Rizzo said. “After that, I would imagine there would be conversations about moving forward.”
In a text message to The Independent, Majority Leader Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia, said “we’re gathering information and have a caucus call this afternoon.”
The Senate Administrator, Patrick Baker, did not respond to an email seeking comment on the situation.
The two committees impacted are the Education Committee and the Health and Pensions Committee. Six GOP Senators are either members of both committees or a member of one who also presented a bill in a public hearing conducted by the other.
The Independent has not confirmed which Republican senator tested positive. None of the six Republicans who participated in both hearings could be reached for comment Friday morning.
Sen. Jill Schupp, D-Creve Coeur, said she did not attend the public hearing of the Senate Education Committee on Tuesday but did attend the meeting Thursday when the committee voted on bills expanding charter schools.
“I actually streamed most of my committee meetings this week because I know my Republican colleagues are not wearing masks, the vast majority of them,” Schupp said. “I know we have had outbreaks in the other chamber and I don’t think this virus cares about which side of the building you are on.”
Lawmakers come from all over the state and while overall numbers of new cases are down, there is still widespread transmission of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. On Friday, the Department of Health and Senior Services reported 1,783 new cases identified by PCR testing, with at least one new infection in 107 of the state’s 117 local health jurisdictions.
The department reported that 445,621 Missourians have become ill since the first case was discovered in March. But that may understate both the total number of Missourians who have become ill and the number who are actively infectious, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Thursday.
The state data does not include any of the 64,685 Missourians who have tested positive on an antigen test, which is not as accurate as a PCR test but which, along with the standard PCR test, can identify a person who can spread the virus.
The department has reported an average of 1,633 new PCR-tested cases per day over the past seven days, down from a peak of 4,722 per day in November. There were 42 additional deaths on Friday, bringing the total for the pandemic to 6,527.
The positive rate on PCR tests continues to fall, reaching 11.7 percent on Friday. The peak, also in November, was 24.5 percent.
Prior to Thursday, there had been at least 13 members of the Missouri House or Senate who have become infected with COVID-19, according to the Associated Press. The latest to identify themselves was state Rep. Kimberly-Ann Collins, D-St. Louis, who posted about her illness Monday on Facebook.
The Missouri House is scheduled to return to work Monday. The Senate, as of Friday morning, was also slated to be in session on Monday.
If one or both chambers cannot meet, it could alter plans for Parson to deliver his speech, scheduled for 3 p.m. Wednesday. The House was unable to pass the resolution inviting Parson to the chamber for his speech because it was not in session this week, Rizzo noted. And it was also unable to pass the resolution necessary to invite the Senate to its chamber for the joint session.
“If they are not going to come back next week, there is no physical way to pass the resolution, which we have to do,” Rizzo said.
Neither chamber has a rule requiring members to wear masks during floor sessions or during committee meetings.
While most Democrats wear masks, as do many legislative staff, Republicans have been seen sitting in close proximity on the floor and crowding into elevators without masks.
“People are making decisions not to do that and putting the health of each of us who work in the capitol in jeopardy,” Schupp said. “It is very concerning to me. This so-called individualism that is suggesting to people that they should not have to wear masks, is not boding well for us.”
The standard guidance from health experts is to avoid close contact with people for more than 15 minutes and to wear a mask when that is not possible.
“There’s a lot of people down there who do not do that,” Rizzo said. “It is exactly the opposite of what the CDC tells us to do.”
This story was produced by The Missouri Independent, a nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization covering state government, politics and policy.