COVID Outbreak Hits Seven Arkansas GOP State Reps

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports:

Sen. Cecile Bledsoe, R-Rogers, is the seventh state lawmaker to test positive for the coronavirus during the past several days. Bledsoe, who co-chairs the Legislative Council, received test results Sunday night that she tested positive, according to Senate President Pro Tempore Jim Hendren, R-Sulphur Springs.

Bledsoe is a former chairwoman of the Senate Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee, whose husband James Bledsoe is a chief physician specialist at the state Department of Health and whose son Greg Bledsoe is the state’s surgeon general.

Rep. Charlene Fite, R-Van Buren, announced on Saturday that she has tested positive for coronavirus. The other lawmakers who have tested positive for coronavirus are Sens. Missy Irvin, R-Mountain View, and Terry Rice, R-Waldron, and Reps. Joe Cloud, R-Russellville; Michelle Gray, R-Melbourne, and Stu Smith, R-Batesville.

Read the full article.

At a press conference Thursday morning, Sen. Cecile Bledsoe and several conservative state and faith leaders warned Arkansans about the dangers of marijuana and implored voters not to sign petitions in favor of legalizing the drug. https://t.co/RAmdfIOJYc

— Arkansas Times (@ArkTimes) January 30, 2020