SC House lawmaker who attended member work session tests positive for COVID-19
One of the nearly 124 South Carolina state House members who attended the chamber’s two-day organizational session this week has tested positive for COVID-19, according to an email that was sent from the House Speaker’s Office to members and staff on Thursday.
The member’s name was not disclosed in the email sent by House Speaker Jay Lucas’ chief of staff and general counsel Patrick Dennis, but the memo said that anyone who had had close contact with the infected person had been asked to quarantine for the time period recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The House Speaker’s Office released the email to a reporter at the The State’s request.
The positive test poses a serious question and challenge for the General Assembly next year: What happens if members of the 170-member Legislature are exposed to or contract the COVID-19 virus while in session? Who quarantines? And will session have to stop meeting in person, resulting in another staggered session?
The next two-year session for the General Assembly will be the most consequential, leaders say, as lawmakers plan to tackle a new spending plan, legislation that may include the so-called “fetal heartbeat bill” and redistricting, when the Legislature redraws the districts based on the U.S. Census population.
South Carolina’s COVID-19 outbreak had already upended legislative work this year, forcing the Legislature to extend the session that left the state without a new budget and the passage of legislation critical to either party.
House Majority Leader Gary Simrill, R-York, told The State Tuesday it is a possibility that session could be staggered, but stressed hope that a vaccine will start to become available to the general public by next year.
“It is imperative that we meet like we meet in person here,” Simrill said. “We’re practicing social distancing as you know, offering tests to members so that we are as proactive as possible throughout this process. But the needs of the citizens of South Carolina are paramount. We must be here.”
On Tuesday and Wednesday, the S.C. House and staff deemed essential to be on the House floor settled into the chamber for a brief session to pick new seats, get their committee assignments and elect leaders. It offered the first look at whether the Legislature is prepared for its 2021 return as positive COVID-19 cases continue to climb and as it’s still highly unlikely a vaccine will be available to the general public by the Legislature’s Jan. 12 return date.
A day before lawmakers arrived, Lucas’ chief of staff Dennis sent an email out that, for the first time during session, offered members and staff on-site rapid COVID-19 tests, administered to only the House by the Medical University of South Carolina.
“We can confirm 78 people were voluntarily tested; House and staff members only, Senate was not in session,” MUSC spokeswoman Heather Woolwine told The State in a provided statement on Wednesday. “Discussions are ongoing to offer future testing opportunities to the legislature.”
MUSC deferred any additional information to the Speaker’s Office, which declined to say whether any tests came back positive, citing private medical information.
Meanwhile, the same email from Dennis on Monday also “strongly encouraged” lawmakers to wear face masks in the chamber.
Many lawmakers heeded advice to wear masks during their return. But a handful chose not to, flouting recommendations from national and state health officials.
“I can’t require you to do anything,” Speaker Lucas, R-Darlington, told members of the Legislative Black Caucus on Wednesday. “I can suggest that we do certain things, and when we come back in January I hope that we will have been able to think this through to the point where we can have protocols set up that ensures the health and safety of the members of the institution.”
Hoping to send a message, leaders have worn masks themselves. They have also stressed spreading out in close settings, including caucus lunches, offering, for example, box lunches as opposed to buffet style. And because next year will be the first of the two-year session, most meetings, Simrill said, will be held in smaller groups and potentially streamed online so that the public can watch.
“We have adapted to this point using all the guidelines,” Simrill said. “Whether that becomes a a suggestion or mandatory, it really depends on as we move forward into the next session.”
Not every lawmaker has heeded the advice.
“Nobody has proven to me emphatically, science-based whether a mask,” works, said state Rep. Patrick Haddon, R-Greenville, who cited a CDC study that 85% of people who tested positive for COVID-19 were wearing masks.
However, a close review of that study found that 85% of people who had contracted COVID-19 regularly wore a mask less than 14 days before symptoms started and 87% of people who had not contracted COVID-19 regularly wore a mask. That study focused on community and close contact exposure, not mask use exclusively. The study looked at whether people who go to certain settings, where mask use and social distancing cannot be maintained, were more likely to be exposed and contract the virus.
Haddon was among a handful of lawmakers who declined to wear a mask inside the House chamber this week. Haddon said he did take two rapid COVID-19 tests that both returned negative results.
“Look at the studies, look at the deaths. Yeah, there’s a lot of deaths,” Haddon said, adding, however, that he is not worried about the virus spreading when both the House and Senate return to Columbia for work next month. “But there’s a lot of deaths that aren’t being accounted for. Like heart disease is the biggest killer of most people in America. ... Masks are not a cure all. I just don’t see it.”
State Rep. Bobby Cox, R-Greenville, also did not wear a mask at his desk, but did put one on when interviewed by The State’s reporter. Cox said he did not take a rapid COVID-19 test offered in the House Blatt building because he wasn’t feeling any symptoms, but said his desk mate tested negative.
“The same thing that you do when you go to a restaurant, you sit down and take off your mask,” Cox said when asked why he removed his mask at his desk, adding that most members he saw in the room took the speaker’s advice to wear masks inside.
“It just depends on kind of their beliefs about it. Some members don’t wear it, some members do, but for the most part is ... a majority of the members are wearing it,” Cox said. “I’m not afraid of getting it, but I’ll I wear it out of respect to people ... with my colleagues, where it could help when I work with them and the ones that are worried about it.”
Publicly and in private, lawmakers and others who work at the State House say they are concerned about a potential COVID-19 outbreak next year, especially after two new members — state Reps. Sandy McGarry, R-Lancaster, and Ryan McCabe, R-Lexington, who publicly disclosed their positive tests — tested positive for the virus after their freshman orientation.
Though several lawmakers have acknowledged when they’ve tested positive for the virus, The State is aware of a few cases where lawmakers have not disclosed that information.
“Yes, I think there are a number of concerns about being in this chamber, especially with people that don’t find the need to wear a mask,” said House Minority Leader Todd Rutherford, D-Richland. “A lot of members are discussing the fact that it’s simply rude. Because it’s not whether it works or not, not how they feel about it. It’s how other people feel, especially staff, having to talk to members that are not wearing is not fair. There’s a great deal of concern.”
House Speaker Lucas told the Black Caucus Wednesday how the House deals with COVID-19 is still evolving.
“We will continue to evolve as the session evolves, as the virus evolves, but one thing you can always count on me to understand is this is serious,” Lucas said. “This is extremely serious, and we have to take it seriously and we do.”
