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Rounds To Isolate When Returning Home After US Senator Paul Tests Positive For COVID 19

South Dakota’s US Senators say there’s increased urgency to pass a third stimulus package after Kentucky US Senator Rand Paul tested positive for COVID 19 on Sunday.

According to Senator Mike Rounds’ spokesperson, Rounds did not sit at Senator Rand Paul’s table during lunch last week.

They say the attending physician of the senate is not recommending every senator get tested at this time. They say if that recommendation changes, Rounds will get tested.

Upon returning to South Dakota, Rounds intends to isolate himself out of an abundance of caution. Senator Rounds’ wife jean recently completed cancer treatment, which can compromise one’s immune system.

Rounds says he doesn’t want to disrupt her recovery.

Senator John Thune says he’s talked with his physician in South Dakota about interactions in the senate and are taking full precautions

Both Rounds and Thune underscore the need to pass a third relief package with Senator Paul testing positive for COVID-19. That package is expected to total $2 trillion dollars.

They’re expressing urgency so members of congress can return home and distance themselves as recommended by the CDC.

Lee Strubinger is SDPB’s Rapid City-based politics and public policy reporter. Lee is a two-time national Edward R. Murrow Award winning reporter. He holds a master’s in public affairs reporting from the University of Illinois-Springfield.