“The important thing is the legislature keeps functioning and we don’t have to shut down or, in that matter, slow down Senate Finance,” Sen. Bert Stedman said.
It’s the first time there’s been a requirement for testing there in about a year.
“To see if we can at least have a little higher standard in this building because of the importance of this committee to the process,” Hoffman said.But the capitol is bracing for a possible rise in infections. “COVID started appearing well over a week or so ago more sporadically and last week it was getting a little more prominent. So we started taking some defensive measures, asking people to take some tests,” said Sen. Bert Stedman of Sitka.
There have been lawmakers who have been recently out sick, Stedman said, either because of COVID-19 or the flu. Multiple staff at the capitol say the legislature isn’t tracking those who have recently gotten sick.“The important thing is the legislature keeps functioning and we don’t have to shut down or, in that matter, slow down Senate Finance,” Stedman said.Of the hundreds of people in and out of the building every day, the number of people required to get testing will be limited to staff of the Senate Finance Committee.
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