Iowa Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, the second-oldest US Senator, is quarantining after being exposed to someone with coronavirus, CNN reports.
The 87-year-old Grassley, who has served in the Senate for 39 years, becomes the second Senator to isolate after exposure. Florida Republican Senator Rick Scott announced on Saturday that he was quarantining after coming in contact with a COVID-positive person.
“I learned today that I’ve been exposed to the coronavirus,” he said in a statement from his office. “I will follow my doctors’ orders and immediately quarantine as I await my test results. I’m feeling well and not currently experiencing any symptoms, but it’s important we all follow public health guidelines to keep each other healthy.”
The spat of republican Senators unable to attend Senate sessions because of coronavirus exposure comes one day after Ohio Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown requested that acting Senate President Republican Dan Sullivan of Alaska to wear a mask when he was overseeing a Senate session.
Sullivan refused, obnoxiously saying he didn’t need instructions from Brown, even as he took papers and other items from Senate staff standing three feet in front of him.