A Michigan state legislator who has been in opposition of Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s use of emergency powers during the pandemic has tested positive for COVID-19.
State Senator Tom Barrett (R) was tested prior to a training event for the Michigan National Guard, of which he is a member.
“Despite taking reasonable precautions, I was notified this afternoon that I tested positive during a routine screening on Friday,” Barrett said, adding that he currently does not have any “significant symptoms.”
“I will be self-isolating according to medical guidelines. I have done my best to make contact with those I have been around in the past couple weeks so that they may also seek medical advice,” he added.
Barrett is the first Republican in the state to contract the virus, while several Democratic lawmakers already have.
He sponsored a bill earlier in the year that would have amended a Michigan law and would have limited Gretchen Whitmer’s emergency authorities. Whitmer vetoed the proposed legislation on May 5.
The Michigan legislature had failed to approve the governor’s order that would extend the state’s disaster declaration, and Whitmer said, “By refusing to extend the emergency and disaster declaration, Republican lawmakers are putting their heads in the sand and putting more lives and livelihoods at risk.”
Barrett continued to whine that the governor was continuing “to disregard the constitutional separation of power by extending emergency declarations unilaterally.”
Whitmer has been a rock solid leader in the state, protecting lives.
Story at The Hill.