The COVID outbreak among lawmakers in Idaho state legislature got so bad this week that they were forced to close down.
So far, six House members, two senators and several other staff members have contracted the virus since the start of the year.
House Speaker Scott Bedke (R) said the move was out of “an abundance of caution” and that it was only a pause to “break the cycle” of transmission, Kpbs reports.
The outbreak comes as the Republican led legislature refused to mandate wearing a mask and ignored social distancing guidelines.
Despite the outbreak, Speaker Bedke says he has “no regrets” and no plans to implement a mask mandate when lawmakers return next month.
“We’ll certainly elevate the issue with our members, but again, I will always stop short of telling them what to do,” he said. “I don’t feel like I have that authority as the speaker.”
Some Republican lawmakers even went as far as to deny that the coronavirus crisis “should even be considered a pandemic”, Kpbs reports. The state’s Lieutenant Governor, Janice McGeachin, was even spotted in the crowd of about 100 people who gathered outside the Capitol earlier this month to burn their mask.
