Sen. Rick Scott tests positive for COVID-19
Republican says he’s ‘feeling good’, symptoms are mild
U.S. Sen. Rick Scott revealed Friday that he has tested positive for the coronavirus. The Republican from Florida wrote on Twitter that he was “feeling good & experiencing very mild symptoms.”
“After several negative tests, I learned I was positive for COVID-19 this AM,’’ wrote Scott, who is 67. ... “I’ll be working from home until it’s safe for me to return to DC. I remind everyone to be careful & do the right things to protect yourselves & others.”
This past weekend, Scott tweeted that he had put himself in self-quarantine after returning home to Naples from Georgia and interacting with someone who tested positive for COVID-19. A spokeswoman for the senator described the person as “someone in Naples on Friday evening that later tested positive.”
Scott was in Georgia during the recount of the presidential election and to campaign for two Republicans running for the Senate in Jan. 5 runoffs in that state.
Greg Bluestein, a political reporter for the Atlanta Jou r n a l - C o n st i t u t i o n , tweeted a photo of a maskless Scott in a crowded room of GOP supporters during one of his campaign stops there. Scott is the leader of Republican Senate campaign efforts in 2022.
In a second Tweet on Friday, Scott added this advice: “Wear a mask. Socially distance. Quarantine if you come in contact with someone positive like I did. We will beat this together, but we all must be responsible. I want to thank all the incredible health care workers who are working around the clock to care for patients.”
Scott is the seventh U.S. senator to test positive for the disease.
Also testing positive since March are U.S. Sens. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Mike Lee of Utah, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Rand Paul of Kentucky, according to NPR News. All are Republicans.