State Sen. Cecile Bledsoe, R-Rogers, is the seventh state lawmaker to test positive for coronavirus during the past 10 days.
Bledsoe, who is the Senate's co-chairwoman of the Arkansas Legislative Council, learned that she tested positive for covid-19 on Sunday night, said Senate President Pro Tempore Jim Hendren, R-Sulphur Springs.
"She is still feeling good," Hendren added.
Cecile Bledsoe could not be reached for comment by telephone Monday.
Her husband, James Bledsoe, is the medical director for the emergency medical services and trauma branch at the state Department of Health. Their son, Greg Bledsoe, is the state's surgeon general.
Late Monday afternoon, Greg Bledsoe tweeted, "Quick update on my family: My parents, wife and two of three children have tested positive for #COVID19 in spite of our best attempts to distance & wear masks.
"I have had three PCR tests this week & remain negative," he said in his tweet. The PCR tests are the more reliable polymerase chain reaction tests.
"So far, everyone is doing ok," Greg Bledsoe wrote.
He said it appears that the infections of his wife and children are not connected to his parents and are "just coincidence.
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"It also appears to have nothing to do with my clinical work. I have cared for dozens of #COVID patients and remain negative & asymptomatic," Greg Bledsoe said in his tweet. "I have had no contact this week with other members of the AR General Assembly, so our cases also appear unrelated to the recent cases at the Capitol. All of this underscores the importance of the public remaining vigilant regarding masks & distancing."
Cecile Bledsoe, 76, wasn't at the Arkansas Legislative Council's and Joint Budget Committee's budget hearing the morning of Oct. 20 before legislative leaders decided in the afternoon, after learning of some lawmakers testing positive, to suspend meetings for the rest of last week.
In the last week, those announced as testing positive were: Sen. Terry Rice, R-Waldron; Sen. Missy Irvin, R-Mountain View; Rep. Michelle Gray, R-Melbourne, Rep. Stu Smith, R-Batesville; Rep. Joe Cloud, R-Russellville, and Rep. Charlene Fite, R-Van Buren.
On Monday afternoon, about a dozen members of the House and Senate Education committees met for several minutes in a virtual meeting over Zoom.
"With what's been happening with some of our legislators, we figured that a lot of you all would probably just as soon do this from home or, as Rep. [Brian] Evans is doing, in your vehicle driving around or just having lunch," House Education Committee Chairman Bruce Cozart, R-Hot Springs, told members.
Evans is a Republican from Cabot.
Hendren said budget hearings for state agencies resume this morning and, if space allows, lawmakers will have empty seats between them in Room A of the Multi-Agency Complex west of the state Capitol.
He said he also expects, because of covid-related reasons, at least several lawmakers to participate remotely through Zoom rather than attend.
Hendren said three senators are in isolation and one is in quarantine. He declined to disclose the identity of the latter, who is in quarantine after coming in close contact with an individual who tested positive for covid-19.
Four representatives who tested positive are in isolation and one representative is in quarantine, said Cecillea Pond-Mayo, a spokeswoman for the House of Representatives.
Lawmakers already have voted to require themselves to wear masks, except under certain conditions, in the budget hearings. Plastic glass dividers have been erected between lawmakers in that room.
Budget hearings started Oct. 13 and are slated to end Nov. 12. The General Assembly will consider enacting a general revenue budget for fiscal 2022 when it begins meeting Jan. 11.
Rep. Jeff Wardlaw, R-Hermitage, who is the House's co-chairman of the Legislative Council, said Monday in an interview that he is in quarantine after his wife tested positive Monday morning.
He said he expects to get the results of his coronavirus test Wednesday.
Fite said Monday in an interview that she's not sure how she contracted the coronavirus.
"We were really taking so many precautions, wearing our masks and the Plexiglas, so I don't know what's going on," she said, referring to legislative budget hearings.
Fite said she has "just some coughing and body aches."
A handful of the lawmakers who tested positive said Monday in interviews they feel better.
Rice said he hasn't had a fever for more than a week.
"Health-wise I'm good," he said. "I am ready to get out of this apartment."
Smith said he has a cough and some drainage, "but I am doing good."
Irvin, who is chairwoman of the Senate Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee, said Monday in a text message to this newspaper, "I am doing much better and according to [the state Department of Health], I will be able to return tomorrow.
"However, I'll most likely wait and return when I feel a little stronger," she said.
"I am feeling a lot better. Most of my symptoms are gone," Gray said in an interview, though she still has mild muscle cramping and no taste nor smell.
Gray said she expects to be able to leave her home Thursday.
Cloud could not be reached for comment by telephone.
Sen. Jason Rapert, R-Conway, in July became the first on the Senate side to announce a positive test; he later recovered.
State Reps. Vivian Flowers, D-Pine Bluff; Reginald Murdock, D-Marianna; and Les Warren, R-Hot Springs, announced they had tested positive before the fiscal legislative session started April 8. They have recovered.