At least 30 Mississippi lawmakers and 11 state capitol workers have tested positive for the coronavirus through Tuesday, according to the state health official.
The number is an increase from the 26 lawmakers and another 10 originally reported that they had contracted the virus, state health officer Thomas Dobbs said, attributing the increase to more people receiving test results.
Two people from the Mississippi Capitol are hospitalized, according to Jackson CLarion-Ledger.
The number gives the state the largest coronavirus outbreak in any state legislature so far, according to an Associated Press analysis.
Lawmakers must return to the Mississippi Capitol at some point in the future to approve a budget for the state’s Department of Marine Resources and vote on whether Governor Tate Reeves (R) will override the veto of some state funding for education, the newspaper reported. But Reeves said he doesn’t know when it will be safe for lawmakers to return.
Speaker Philip Gunn (R) and Lt. Governor Delbert Hosemann (R) were reported last week among infected lawmakers.
Earlier this week, Reeves warned that allowing people to contract and recover from the virus is unlikely to be a long-term solution to the pandemic.
“We would need to triple our worst day [of cases]”Every day – for a year,” Reeves tweeted. “I am not one of these guys who immediately dismisses any idea that challenges the discussion points of the expert status quo. I am quite skeptical by nature. That is healthy. But collective immunity is nothing like a realistic solution in the short or medium term. I wish it was. “
Last Thursday, the governor ordered 13 counties in the state to require masks and banned large gatherings, and said at a press conference that “Mississippi is in a fight for our lives.”
The state has recorded more than 87,500 cases and 1,272 deaths from the virus as of Wednesday afternoon.
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