FILE - This May 23, 2019, file photo shows Democratic Rep. Lorenzo Sierra of Avondale during a budget conference in Phoenix. The Arizona lawmaker has been intubated and admitted to the intensive care unit at Johns Hopkins Hospital for treatment of COVID-19, legislative officials announced Monday, Oct. 5, 2020. Sierra was visiting family in Washington when he and his wife fell ill.(AP Photo/Bob Christie, File)
Meanwhile, President Trump said he will be leaving the hospital Monday night after being treated for COVID-19.
Arizona Rep. Lorenzo Sierra of Avondale has been hospitalized and intubated after contracting COVID-19.
Sierra, a Democrat, is the third Arizona state lawmaker to test positive for the virus.
He and his wife Rhonda Cagle were visiting family in Washington, D.C., when he became sick. He was taken to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore on Monday.
Cagle is recovering in isolation. She wrote on Facebook that she and Sierra tested negative for the virus before seeing family and took “extensive precautions.”
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“Please pray for my husband,” Cagle wrote. “He is a fighter and is determined to beat this terrible disease, but he needs the prayers of all of us to recover.”
Arizonans offered Sierra well wishes.
“Arizona’s prayers are with Representative Sierra and his wife, Rhonda, as they battle COVID-19,” Gov. Doug Ducey tweeted. “We are thinking of them and their entire family.”
Rep. Greg Stanton also chimed in.
“I’ve worked with Rep. Sierra for almost 20 years,” he tweeted. “He’s a fighter and one of the most dedicated public servants I know. Prayers up for Rhonda and Lorenzo for a full and swift recovery.”
Virus Still Spreading
A number of GOP political figures in the nation’s capital are also fighting the virus after President Donald Trump’s administration held a reception for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett at the White House where few precautions were taken.
News broke last week that the president and his wife had tested positive and were experiencing symptoms.
Trump was hospitalized as what his doctor called a “precautionary” measure. However, doctors revealed on Sunday that the president’s blood oxygen level had dropped suddenly twice in recent days and that they gave him a steroid typically only recommended for the very sick.
The president tweeted Monday that he would leave the hospital that night. His doctor said the president may not entirely be out of the woods yet” and he will continue to be treated at the White House.
Trump’s press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, who also attended Barrett’s reception, announced Monday she had tested positive for the virus.
At least 12 cases have been linked to the event.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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