Anti-Mask Louie Gohmert Tests Positive, Sending Shudders Through Congress

“For members of Congress who are going back and forth, they represent sort of the perfect petri dish for how you spread a disease,” said Senator Roy Blunt, Republican of Missouri and the chairman of the Rules Committee. “Send 535 people out to 535 different locations on about 1,000 different airplanes, and bring them back and see what happens. It seems to me there’s a better path forward.”

Representative Steny H. Hoyer, Democrat of Maryland and the majority leader, said he planned to press Ms. Pelosi and the House Republican leader, Kevin McCarthy of California, on the matter. Mr. McCarthy urged his members to wear their masks and renewed previous calls for lawmakers to be tested regularly.

To date, Ms. Pelosi had required masks be used in House hearings and encouraged — but not required — their use on the floor. She said Wednesday that she considered doing so “a sign of respect” and that failing to wear a facial covering on the House floor going forward would be treated as “a serious breach of decorum” that could lead to a member’s removal from the floor.

Mr. Gohmert is far from the first member of Congress to contract the coronavirus. A tally maintained by GovTrack puts that number at 10, with dozens more having isolated for a period of time after coming into contact with someone carrying it. But not since Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky tested positive in late March as senators were trying to cinch a coronavirus relief deal has Congress been so shaken by signs of the virus circulating among its ranks.

By midafternoon, lawmakers, support staff and journalists were racing to isolate themselves after possible exposure, as health officials were left to try to retrace Mr. Gohmert’s steps. It was a daunting task because Mr. Gohmert is a frequent schmoozer who could have come into close contact with dozens of fellow lawmakers and aides this week alone.

Dr. Brian P. Monahan, Congress’s attending physician, advised members of the Judiciary Committee that they could be at elevated risk if they sat near Mr. Gohmert or used the same equipment, but said Democrats, at least, did not need to quarantine.

Representative Raúl M. Grijalva, Democrat of Arizona and the chairman of the Natural Resources Committee, said in a statement that he would isolate himself until he could get test results because of extended contact with Mr. Gohmert in his committee’s hearing.