State Reps. Jeff Wardlaw, R-Hermitage, and Gayla McKenzie, R-Gravette, are the latest lawmakers to test positive for the coronavirus, increasing the number to nine during the past week and a half.
Wardlaw and McKenzie informed House Speaker Matthew Shepherd, R-El Dorado, that they have tested positive for covid-19, House spokeswoman Cecillea Pond-Mayo said late Tuesday afternoon.
These latest positive tests came as lawmakers Tuesday resumed their hearings on state agency budgets. Legislative leaders on Oct. 20 suspended the hearings for the rest of last week, after three lawmakers initially tested positive for the coronavirus.
In Room A of the Multi-Agency Complex, west of the state Capitol, on Tuesday, a few dozen lawmakers spread out more than they had previously, with at least one empty seat between them. For the most part, all lawmakers present wore masks Tuesday. Some lawmakers participated remotely by using Zoom videoconferencing software.
The Legislative Council and Joint Budget Committee's rule for the budget hearings requires lawmakers to wear masks covering their noses. The mask can be removed when the lawmaker speaks into a microphone or is drinking and is at least 6 feet from others.
Wardlaw, 40, is the House's chairman of the Legislative Council.
He said he learned Tuesday that he tested positive for the coronavirus, and he feels like he has the flu. His wife tested positive for covid-19 Monday.
Wardlaw said he has "no clue" how he got the illness.
"I don't know anybody can tell you how they got it," he said in an interview.
Wardlaw said he sympathizes with the millions of people who have been infected with the coronavirus, and he hopes he never gets it again.
McKenzie, 55, is a sister of Senate President Pro Tempore Jim Hendren, R-Sulphur Springs, and a niece of Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson.
She said she learned Tuesday that she tested positive for the coronavirus.
McKenzie said she was in Little Rock for legislative budget hearings about two weeks ago, but "you can never be sure" how she was infected.
She said she self-quarantined after a fellow lawmaker, who was a close contact, tested positive. She said she first experienced symptoms Friday night.
"I am feeling well, mild symptoms right now," McKenzie said in an interview.
The other seven state lawmakers who have tested positive for the coronavirus in the past week and a half are Sens. Terry Rice, R-Waldron, Cecile Bledsoe, R-Rogers, and Missy Irvin, R-Mountain View; and Reps. Joe Cloud, R-Russellville; Charleen Fite, R-Van Buren; Michelle Gray, R-Melbourne; and Stu Smith, R-Russellville.
Bledsoe is the Senate chairwoman of the Legislative Council. Irvin is the chairwoman of the Senate Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee.
Rice said he could return to attend today's legislative budget hearings, but added, "I am going to be a little bit extra cautious.
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"I am going home [today], and I'll be back on the fourth," Rice said. The general election is Nov. 3.
The legislative budget hearings started Oct. 13 and are to end Nov. 12.
On Nov. 10, Hutchinson is scheduled to propose the state's general revenue budget for fiscal 2022, which starts July 1, 2021. In its regular session starting Jan. 11, the Legislature will consider enacting a general revenue budget for fiscal 2022.
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.
So far, four of the state's 35 senators have been infected with the coronavirus, and nine of the state's 98 representatives have been infected with covid-19. The House has two vacant positions.