BATON ROUGE, La. — Sen. Bill Cassidy announced Thursday that he has tested positive for the coronavirus.
The Louisiana Republican’s office released a statement saying Cassidy was notified Wednesday night that he had been exposed to someone with COVID-19. The 62-year-old senator was tested Thursday, and that test was positive.
A doctor himself, Cassidy is now quarantining for 14 days.
“I am strictly following the direction of our medical experts and strongly encourage others to do the same,” he said.
Cassidy is the second U.S. senator to be infected by the coronavirus. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) tested positive for COVID-19 in March. Several members of the House of Representatives have also contracted the virus.
Cassidy’s home state, Louisiana, which has experienced two spikes of the coronavirus, has had the most per-capita cases in the country. The state of 4.6 million people has reported more than 140,000 cases and 4,600 cases.
Nationwide, there have been 5.5 million reported cases of COVID-19 in the United States and 173,000 deaths.