NC legislators notified after a lobbyist tests positive for coronavirus
A lobbyist who met with as many as five members of the General Assembly has tested positive for COVID-19.
The lobbyist has notified those they had direct contact with, Legislative Services Officer Paul Coble said Wednesday.
House Minority Leader Darren Jackson said at least one Democratic House member went to get tested because of the exposure and will be in quarantine until they receive their test results. The legislator had an in-office, in-person meeting with the lobbyist, Jackson said.
Neither Jackson nor House Speaker Tim Moore provided the name of the lobbyist who tested positive, and The News & Observer wasn’t able to find out when the person received their results. Legislators’ work largely wrapped up early Friday morning about six weeks after returning to Raleigh.
“I am told no legislators who met with the lobbyists have symptoms or have tested positive,” Moore said in a text message.
Later Wednesday in a phone interview Moore said the lobbyist met with no more than five lawmakers, who all have been notified.
Moore said he was told those legislators all have been tested for COVID-19 and have tested negative. It wasn’t clear whether the Democrat who Jackson said is still in quarantine is included in that count, but Jackson said that person has not received test results.
Physicians have told The News & Observer that an influx of tests has led to a backlog for test results and those results could take a week.
Moore said he did not know when lawmakers learned about their exposure or when they had the tests performed.
“I didn’t cross examine them,” Moore said. “I was told this by my staff and was satisfied with the response.”
Moore said the lobbyist went to meetings and did not linger in the building.
“This lobbyist is responsible and stepped forward to contact those she had been in contact with,” Moore said.
Moore was unsure when those meetings took place but said it was either early last week or late in the week before.
Temperature checks at the Legislative Building
This is the second time a person who was in the Legislative Building has been reported as testing positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. In March, a cafeteria staff member tested positive one day after working in the building.
After that positive test, temperature checks were required for anyone entering the building.
That practice was suspended during the week of June 15 after legislative services officer Coble said no cases of elevated temperatures were reported in the six weeks that temperatures were checked.
Temperature checks resumed in the final week of the short session, after several legislators expressed concerns about the suspension of checks.
Senators not notified
Two Democratic senators — Sen. Jay Chaudhuri and Sen. Wiley Nickel, both of Wake County — found out that a lobbyist tested positive when a News & Observer reporter asked them about it.
Nickel said that everyone who comes to work in the Legislative Building should be notified because they’re all affected.
“I’ve been disappointed in the lack of information and things that we’ve done in the legislature to protect each other,” Nickel said.
Chaudhuri noted the gap in temperature checks, the possibility of asymptomatic spread of the coronavirus, and the lack of masks on some people in the Legislative Building. He said the news of a new positive test raises a “whole host of issues.”
“Certainly there’s been no internal communications from the leadership of the General Assembly about any lobbyist testing positive,” said Chaudhuri, who is the Senate Democratic Whip.
“I just hope that that lobbyist, that he or she was wearing a mask when they were in the building,” he said.
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This story was originally published July 1, 2020 at 1:15 PM with the headline "NC legislators notified after a lobbyist tests positive for coronavirus."
