Ben McAdams, second member to test positive for coronavirus: Congress should consider remote voting

Rep. Ben McAdams, who announced on Wednesday that he tested positive for the coronavirus, on Thursday said Congress should consider allowing for remote voting amid the expanding outbreak.

“I think there’s value, outside of the national emergency that we’re in, [in] having members of Congress come together and talk about bills before they vote on them,” the Utah Democrat said on NBC’s “Today” program. “But perhaps under a state of a declared national emergency that’s something that should be available to the Congress.”

“It does place a limit on the ability of Congress to get stuff done,” he said. “Right now, I don’t think it approaches the level of having a quorum, but certainly where we [limit] social gatherings to more than 10, it’s something we should think about with Congress having 435 members and gathering for votes.”

Mr. McAdams said he was feeling pretty bad but that he was getting by.

He said a doctor initially said his symptoms of a fever and cough didn’t justify testing, but on Monday evening his symptoms took a turn for the worse.

“I had a temperature of about 103. … My lungs were really constricted — [it] felt like I had a belt around my chest,” Mr. McAdams said.

The doctor then said it made sense for the congressman to get tested, and he did so at a local clinic.

Mr. McAdams said the House physician said anyone who had close contact with him from Friday onward “should be concerned and should probably take precaution[s].”

“There aren’t a lot of members with whom I had close contact,” he said.

Mr. McAdams is the second member of Congress to announce a positive test for the coronavirus, following Florida Republican Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart’s announcement on Wednesday.