Coronavirus arrives on Capitol Hill: First Senate staffer diagnosed with covid-19

[brooklynite]

Source: Washington Post

A Washington staffer for Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, in what’s believed to be the first confirmed case of covid-19 on Capitol Hill, her office announced Wednesday night.

“The individual has been in isolation since starting to have symptoms,” the office said in a public notice. “On the advice of the Attending Physician, the senator has closed her Washington, D.C. office this week for deep cleaning and staff will be teleworking.”

According to the notice, the infected Senate staffer, who has not been publicly identified, “had no known contact with the senator or other members of Congress.”

“The senator is requesting that testing be done on any other staffers who have been in contact with the individual and show symptoms,” her office said.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/03/12/coronavirus-cantwell-staffer/

[IronLionZion]

1. Congresspeople tend to be older and come in contact with lots of people

[MiniMe]

2. I think many times the staffers are young

Of course, they have given no information about that kind of thing. Of course, any information at all could allow the staffer to be identified.

[IronLionZion]

3. sick staffers would come into contact with elderly congresspeople

I've seen congressional staffers and similar types of people who are very dedicated to their work. They'll go in when sick because they believe their work is too important or they don't have the option to work from home. They either don't even think about spreading it to others or they'll joke about it not realizing it could be a death sentence to certain types of vulnerable people like the immunosuppressed.

[MiniMe]

4. Very true, and before they knew they had it

with this virus, you can be totally asymptomatic and spread germs