3:23
- ABC News
- April 7, 2020
Rep. Ben McAdams talks about COVID-19 recovery
"I'm young ... I'm healthy," he said. "It could happen to anyone."
Since then, at least two other members of Congress, Kentucky Rep. Joe Cunningham and Pennsylvania Rep. Mike Kelly, have tested positive for COVID-19. Another member, New York Rep. Nydia Velazquez, announced she has a “presumed coronavirus infection.” Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul also announced he had tested positive for COVID-19 in late March.
Now recovered, McAdams is urging all people, whether or not they fall into a category of people with increased risk for the virus or not, to “take this seriously.”
“I'm young, I'm 45 years old, I'm healthy, I exercise every day and it hit me really hard,” he said. “Please take this seriously and follow the guidance of our public health officials. If not for your sake, do it for your friends or your loved ones who you might expose, or just be a part of slowing the spread of, this dangerous virus — flattening the curve so we can treat those people who it does hit hard. Because it could happen to anyone.”
McAdams said the illness was hard on his family, who tried to FaceTime and speak on the phone with him while he was in the hospital.
On “some of the worst days … I just didn't have the energy to carry on a conversation,\" he said. \"We had brief conversations and I let them know I was doing OK. I was on supplemental oxygen.”
McAdams said his family was quarantined because of their exposure to me and “either nobody got it or they had a really mild case… Everybody's doing really well.”
McAdams said that just as he was working from home, Congress should continue to work in an “isolated fashion” and work across party lines to pass legislation “making sure the relief is available to hardworking families.”
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