Rep. Ben McAdams is the second member of Congress to test positive for the COVID-19 virus. He said Thursday morning testing should be expanded to cover more Americans.
McAdams appeared on the Today show where he was asked about the shortage of testing kits for the virus.
“We have to expand the availability of testing,” said McAdams. “When I first was feeling symptoms my doctor said that they didn’t qualify for testing, that I should just quarantine, I should stay at home but they weren’t bad enough to justify a test. There were times where I was really sick and there were times where I felt better and I can imagine somebody having the temptation to get out and go to work. That’s why we’ve got to test people earlier. Shouldn’t be when symptoms are so bad that justifies a test. We should have an abundance of tests so people can be tested earlier so we can stop the spread of the sickness.”
McAdams says he started feeling sick over the weekend when he returned to Utah from Washington. He put himself into isolation on advice of his doctor but was tested after his symptoms worsened. After the positive test, he and his family went into “full-on quarantine” and not leaving his house for anything.
While McAdams is stuck in Utah, he says he is unable to vote on legislation because House rules do not allow for remote voting.
“I think we need to consider changing that under certain provisions. There’s value in having outside of the national emergency that we’re in, having members of Congress come together and talk about bills before they vote on them but perhaps under the state of a declared national emergency that’s something that should be available to the Congress,” said McAdams.
Watch the clip below:
