Florida Sen. Rick Scott will self-quarantine after being in contact with the member of the Brazilian government who tested positive for the coronavirus.
Scott, a 67-year-old GOP senator, was notified by the Brazilian Embassy on Thursday that a member of President Jair Bolsonaro’s delegation tested positive for COVID-19, according to a statement. The senator met with President Trump on Monday, along with the delegation. However, Scott noted he did not interact with the infected person, but they were in the same room.
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The Florida senator said both the Senate’s attending physician and his personal doctor told him that his chance to contract the virus is “low,” and he does not need to get tested for it, nor does he need to quarantine himself. However, he plans on doing so out of “an abundance of caution” despite “feeling healthy and not experiencing any symptoms at this time.”
The infected member of Bolsonaro’s delegation was Fabio Wajngarten, the president’s communications secretary. On Saturday, Wajngarten was at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, with the rest of the Brazilian delegation and visited with President Trump as well as Vice President Mike Pence. Neither of them were tested for coronavirus as of Monday evening. The two also had recent contact with several prominent Republicans who had been in contact with Alan Berger, a New Jersey doctor who had tested positive for the coronavirus after attending the Conservative Political Action Conference in February.
Scott became the second senator to self-quarantine after being exposed to the virus, which has infected more than 1,300 people in the United States and led to more than three dozen deaths.
