Another top GOP lawmaker has just announced that he is among those infected with COVID-19.
Rep. Mike Kelly, a Republican from Pennsylvania, revealed on Friday that he has tested positive for the coronavirus, and now he is sharing details about his experience, according to The Hill.
Pennsylvania congressman tests positive
After Kelly made the disclosure about his diagnosis, he participated in a phone interview with Salena Zito of the Washington Examiner.
“I started feeling like I was coming down with something a week ago,” Kelly said. “I reached out to my physician, who recommended the test for COVID-19.”
At 71 years of age, Kelly is squarely within the at-risk age group, which is why it was so important that he be tested. Ever since his doctor made the recommendation, Kelly has been in self-imposed isolation, which has even kept him from his family.
“As soon as I began to feel under the weather, I hunkered down at home, still worked every day, and waited for the results,” Kelly said. “The test came back positive [Friday] afternoon.”
Kelly’s condition
During the interview, Kelly spoke about his condition, and thus far, it appears that he has been lucky enough to have relatively mild symptoms.
“I am fine, I am resting well,” Kelly said. “I have had no fever, the worst symptom I have is that I feel very sore, with muscle aches and stuff like that. Like many people, you would usually think, ‘Well, maybe I have a 24-hour bug, and I’ll get through it.’ But I am around a lot of people, so I thought I better make sure. I don’t want to take a chance and give it to someone else. All of us have that responsibility.”
Rather than the illness itself, Kelly said that the hardest thing for someone like him is the inability to simply get up each day and go to work.
“You know you grow up in Western Pennsylvania, and you get used to thinking you can power through something and shake it off,” he said. “But this time I knew to take this seriously immediately. This is no time to power through anything.”
Kelly now joins what seems to be an ever-growing tally of Washington lawmakers who have been infected with the coronavirus. Among the most notable names on that list is Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who tested positive for coronavirus on March 22.
Let us all pray that everyone suffering from this terrible illness is able to achieve full recovery.
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