New Hampshire GOP House Members Test Positive For Coronavirus

CONCORD, NH — A few Republican House members in New Hampshire have contracted coronavirus, according to the Associated Press.

The lawmakers, who were meeting for a leadership event at the McIntyre Ski area in Manchester on Nov. 20, were found during contact tracing by the state to have contracted the virus. State Rep. Dick Hinch, R-Merrimack, who was elected to be the GOP nominee for Speaker of the House at the meeting, said it was "a very small number" of people affected. He declined to comment on specifics. Other members of the House are reporting that it is believed to be one or two people and the members contracted the virus before the meeting — but did not know they were infected at the time.

Members of the House are meeting outside at University of New Hampshire in Durham as part of Organization Day — the first meeting of the House and Senate, where leaders are officially elected.

At this point, 11 days from the leadership meeting, if the representatives or attendees who were infected caught the virus before the meeting, they would have finished or nearly finished the 10-to-14-day requested quarantine time period.

Democrats, however, condemned the lack of transparency by Hinch and leaders about the infections.

Outgoing Senate President Donna Soucy (D-Manchester) said the decision to withhold the health and safety information was "disrespectful to the work of both the UNH and legislative staff and potentially puts public safety at risk." She said a lot of work had been performed to ensure that representatives and Senators were safe and she hoped those members who were infected or potentially exposed would "follow CDC and state guidelines and stay home."

Outgoing Speaker of the House Steve Shurtleff (D-Penacook) also criticized the lack of communication about the issue calling it shameful.

Read the full story on APNews.com.

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