Democratic Rep. Adriano Espaillat of New York in a statement that he’s quarantining at home and will keep up his work representing his Upper Manhattan district. Espaillat said he received the second dose of the coronavirus vaccine last week.
All four were among dozens of lawmakers whisked to a secure location when rioters stormed the Capitol.
It’s not clear where and when lawmakers caught the virus. But the Capitol’s attending physician has told House members they might have been exposed to someone in the room who had the virus.
Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, D-N.J., speaks during a hearing with FBI Deputy Assistant Director Peter Strzok before the House Committees on the Judiciary and Oversight and Government Reform during a hearing on “Oversight of FBI and DOJ Actions Surrounding the 2016 Election,” on Capitol Hill, Thursday, July 12, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 28: Representative Brad Schneider (D-IL) speaks about his experiences during a trip to Israel and Auschwitz-Birkenau as part of a bipartisan delegation from the House of Representatives while Representative Nita Lowey (D-NY) listens on January 28, 2020 in Washington, DC. The liberation of the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau on January 27, 1945 is remembered all around the world this week on its 75th anniversary. (Photo by Samuel Corum/Getty Images)
FILE – In this July 29, 2020 file photo, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., speaks during a House Judiciary subcommittee on antitrust on Capitol Hill in Washington. A second Democratic member of the House who was forced to go into lockdown during last week’s violent protest has tested positive for COVID-19. Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington says she has tested positive. She criticized Republican members of Congress who declined to wear a mask when it was offered to them. (Mandel Ngan/Pool via AP, File)
FILE – In this Feb. 28, 2020 file photo, Rep. Adriano Espaillat, D-N.Y., speaks during a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing in Washington. Espaillat says he has the coronavirus. The New York Democrat’s announcement Thursday makes him the latest House member to report testing positive since dozens huddled together for protection during the Jan. 6 mob attack on the U.S. Capitol. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Some members of Congress huddled for hours in the large room, while others were there for a shorter period.
Both Jayapal and Schneider said they believe they were exposed during the protective isolation.
While the virus most often spreads from person to person, it is possible to pass it on without showing any symptoms, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC also says the “virus may be able to infect people who are further than 6 feet away from the person who is infected or after that person has left the space.”
Case investigation and contact tracing are part of the process of supporting patients and warning contacts of exposure in order to stop chains of transmission, according to the CDC.