Sen. Bill Cassidy from Louisiana, who encouraged mask use, tests positive for COVID-19
Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday.
Cassidy is quarantining for 14 days and adhering to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, according to a news release.
“I am strictly following the direction of our medical experts and strongly encourage others to do the same,” Cassidy said.
Cassidy encouraged people to wear masks to slow the spread of the virus, Louisiana Illuminator reported. Cassidy, the second senator known to test positive for the virus, is a gastroenterologist and taught at a charity hospital in Baton Rouge.
“While businesses across the state are continuing to take precautions to slow the spread of COVID-19, we have seen an increase in the number of cases here in the Pelican State,” Cassidy wrote. “That’s why now more than ever, it’s critical that we each continue to do our part, keep a safe distance from one another, and wear a mask when out in public,” Cassidy wrote on his website. “Together we can help to slow the spread of the virus once again and protect the health of our communities.”
Cassidy has criticized increasing the use of mail-in voting for the upcoming general election.
“If you can go to the grocery store safely and practice social distancing, then you can safely go to the voting booth,” Cassidy wrote Wednesday on Twitter. “We shouldn’t federalize elections like Democrats are attempting to do by making mail-in voting mandatory. Let state & local govts decide their voting procedures.”
“Democrats want to federalize elections, making mail-in balloting mandatory,” he said in the Twitter video. “I keep saying you can go to Walmart and be safe, just stand six feet behind the guy in front of you and why can’t we do that also at the voting booth? Of course we can. If you want to mail in your ballot, mail it in. Just mail it in Republican.”
Studies have found that mail-in voting does not benefit one party more than the other, FiveThirtyEight reported.
An Axios/Ipsos poll found Democrats are more likely to be concerned about in-person voting as a risk for getting COVID-19.
Fifty-two percent of respondents said in-person voting was risky. Sixty-four percent of Democrats said it was risky compared to 29% of Republicans who said the same. The poll was conducted July 31-Aug. 3 with a margin of error of 3 to 3.4 percentage points.
GOP Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky tested positive for the coronavirus in May, and more senators have self-quarantined due to being exposed to someone who was sick, NPR reported.
Twelve House representatives also tested positive for COVID-19, according to the publication.
This story was originally published August 20, 2020 at 12:37 PM with the headline "Sen. Bill Cassidy from Louisiana, who encouraged mask use, tests positive for COVID-19."