Tennessee House Democrat Minority Leader tests positive for COVID

Tennessee’s top Democratic House leader has tested positive for COVID-19, the lawmaker’s office said on Thursday.

Minority Leader Karen Camper began feeling ill upon arriving in Nashville on Aug. 10 for the first day of the legislative special session. The Memphis Democrat attended that evening’s House floor session but did not attend the remainder of the three-day session.

A spokesman for the Democratic caucus said Camper’s initial COVID-19 test showed that the virus was “non-detectable.”

“As a precautionary measure, she returned to Memphis and immediately went into quarantine for the safety of her colleagues and her family. It was subsequently determined that she had contracted the virus,” said Ken Jobe, spokesman for the House Democrats, in a statement.

Camper is now resting and recovering at home.

Camper is the third Tennessee lawmaker known to have tested positive for the virus. Republican Rep. Mike Carter of Ooltewah announced earlier this week that he was receiving treatment for COVID-19 and recovering in a hospital. Meanwhile, Rep. Kent Calfee, a Republican from Kingston, announced in July that he had tested positive but was asymptomatic.

(PHOTO: TGA)