Congressman Stephen Lynch, a Massachusetts Democrat, tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday after receiving the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine earlier this month. Lynch is one of several members of Congress who have tested positive for the virus in recent weeks.
A spokesman for Lynch said in a statement that the positive test result came after an employee from his Boston office tested positive.
“Congressman Lynch received the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine and subsequently received a negative COVID-19 test before taking part in President Biden’s inauguration,” said Molly Rose Tarpey, Lynch’s director of communications. “As long as Mr. Lynch remains asymptomatic and feeling well, he will be quarantined and will vote by proxy in Congress over the next week.”
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Another member of the Massachusetts House delegation, Congresswoman Lori Trahan, also tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday.
“I’m lucky to be asymptomatic, and I immediately started quarantining,” said Trahan in a statement posted on Twitter, adding that she “would cast my votes next week using the Chamber’s proxy voting system”.
Several House Democrats positive test for COVID-19 in early January after spending time in confinement with Republican members who refused to wear masks during the January 6 attack on the Capitol. The announcements by Democratic MPs Brad Schneider, Bonnie Watson Coleman and Pramila Jayapal came days after the Capitol doctor warned that members may have been “exposed to another occupant with coronavirus infection.”
More than 436,000 Americans died of COVID-19 and nearly 26 million contracted the virus.