Mississippi Lt. Gov. Tests Positive for COVID Day After Going Maskless Around Capitol

A day after Mississippi's state legislature began its first session of 2022, where many vaccinated lawmakers, including Republican Lieutenant Governor Delbert Hosemann, spent the day inside the state Capitol building without masks, Hosemann has tested positive for COVID.

Hosemann, 74, took part in the new three-month session that started at noon on Tuesday and spoke to reporters, most of whom were wearing masks, during his time in the building. His office said anyone who may have been exposed is being notified.

He was not displaying symptoms but learned someone he was in contact with recently had tested positive, which led Hosemann to take a test late Tuesday, and he received the positive result Wednesday, spokesperson Leah Rupp Smith said according to the Associated Press.

"He currently has no symptoms and has been double vaccinated and boosted," a news release from Hosemann's office on Wednesday said. "He is quarantining for five days according to the recommendation of the state health officer and CDC guidelines."

Hosemann previously had COVID in the summer of 2020, never requiring hospitalization, but the lieutenant governor, who said he runs often, said COVID did make it hard for him to walk very far without losing his breath.

House Speaker Philip Gunn, also a Republican, said Tuesday that if people at the Capitol start testing positive for COVID-19, the House could return to precautions it used previously. Those included limiting the number of people in the House chamber and in committee rooms, with some lawmakers participating in meetings by videoconferences.

According to data from Johns Hopkins University, the seven-day rolling average for daily new cases in Mississippi increased over the past two weeks from around 624 on December 20 to around 4,406 on Monday.

After the announcement about Hosemann's positive test Wednesday, the majority of the people at the Capitol were still unmasked. The state's Senate Education Committee canceled an afternoon meeting, where it was expected to discuss teacher pay raises.

A clinic for booster shots was set up in a room on the second floor of the Capitol building. Only a handful of people walked in to get their shots in the morning.

Lobbyist Hope Ladner was one of the people getting booster shots. Ladner said she planned to get a booster even before learning that the lieutenant governor had tested positive. She said she's at the Capitol most days of the session, and wanted the extra protection to be safe.

"It was just convenient," she said. "To be honest, I'm not as concerned about myself, but I have an 85-year-old mother that I am very concerned about. She's been vaccinated and boosted, but I feel like it's my responsibility to do what I can to make sure she's protected. That's why I'm protecting myself."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.