WASHINGTON — Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul says he was tested a week ago for the novel coronavirus, but continued working at the Capitol because he had no symptoms of the illness and believed it was “highly unlikely” he was sick. Paul also said he did not have direct contact with anyone who tested positive for the virus or was sick.
Paul announced Sunday that he had tested positive for the virus, becoming the first case of COVID-19 in the Senate and raising fears about further transmission of the virus among senators, including more than two dozen who are in their 70s or 80s.
Paul’s refusal to self-quarantine after being tested sparked bipartisan outrage, including from some of his colleagues. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, a Democrat from Arizona, chastised Paul on Twitter, saying his decision to return to the Capitol before he learned the test results was “absolutely irresponsible.”
Sen. Martha McSally, R-Ariz., retweeted Sinema’s comments and said she “couldn’t agree more. As we ask all Americans to sacrifice their livelihoods and alter their behavior to save lives, we must ourselves model appropriate #coronavirus behavior. No one is too important to disregard guidance to self-quarantine pending test results.”
Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, a former health policy adviser to President Barack Obama, said Monday that Paul, an eye surgeon, “did just about everything wrong” by not self-quarantining in the days before his test results came back.
“What I’m really upset about is he’s a physician, and he ought to know best in the whole Senate,” Emanuel told MSNBC.
Paul defended his actions in a statement Monday. Since most senators travel frequently by plane and attend “lots of large gatherings, I believed my risk factor for exposure to the virus to be similar to that of my colleagues, especially since multiple congressional staffers on the Hill had already tested positive weeks ago,” he said.
“For those who want to criticize me for lack of quarantine, realize that if the rules on testing had been followed to a T, I would never have been tested and would still be walking around the halls of the Capitol,” Paul added. Current federal guidelines would not have called for him to get tested or quarantined, Paul said.
“It was my extra precaution, out of concern for my damaged lung, that led me to get tested,” he said.
Paul, 57, had surgery last year to remove part of a lung damaged in a 2017 assault by a neighbor who attacked him over a long-standing landscaping dispute.
Paul said his decision to get tested was not related to his attendance at a March 7 fundraiser for a Louisville art museum. Two event attendees have tested positive for COVID-19, but Paul said he “never interacted with the two individuals even from a distance.”
Paul went into quarantine Sunday after learning his results.
