Congresswoman tests positive for COVID-19 after sheltering in place with mask-less colleagues during Capitol riot

(Image credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

published 11 January 2021

The coronavirus pandemic and the Capitol riot may have officially crossed over.

Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.) announced Monday that she has tested positive for COVID-19. She believes she was exposed to the virus last Wednesday while sheltering in place with several of her House colleagues, some of whom she said refused to wear masks, while a mob of President Trump's supporters stormed the United States Capitol during Congress' Electoral College certification process.

While there are no guarantees that Watson Coleman was infected in that moment, Rear Adm. Brian Monahan, the attending physician to Congress, on Sunday notified lawmakers many members of the House who were in protective isolation "in a large committee hearing space" may have been exposed to someone who had an infection. It's not entirely clear if Watson Coleman was in that specific room, but a statement from her office indicates she was.

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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.

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