A Republican lawmaker who had a habit of walking through Congress without a mask tested positive for the new coronavirus Wednesday as he prepared to go to his native Texas with President Donald Trump.
Louie Gohmert announced his diagnosis a day after attending a major hearing with the testimony of Attorney General Bill Barr, with whom he was seen walking and conversing at close range while neither of them was wearing a mask.
The news angered House Democrats and prompted President Nancy Pelosi to order the use of masks on the chamber floor, with the penalty of expulsion for any disobedience.
Gohmert, 66, said he was asymptomatic and played down his diagnosis.
He has worn a mask sporadically in the past few weeks, and suggested on Wednesday that he move around his face because it is uncomfortable to "put some germs on the mask" and perhaps this caused his infection.
Even though the pandemic has unleashed in the United States, Trump firmly ignored the recommendations of the US medical experts that people wear masks to help slow the spread of the virus and that he did not use it in public. until July 11.
Since then, Republican lawmakers who rejected the masks have started wearing them more frequently. But wearing or not wearing a mask remains a political hot spot in the country.
Gohmert was tested Wednesday at the White House because he was supposed to accompany Trump on a visit to Texas.
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