Sen. Jacky Rosen (D), Nevada’s junior U.S. senator, announced Tuesday she was working from home with a mild case of COVID-19.
Rosen, who ousted former Sen. Dean Heller (R) in 2018 to turn the state’s upper-chamber delegation blue, is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee that annually authorizes defense programs, including those at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA).
Rosen announced her diagnosis on Twitter.
After experiencing mild symptoms, I tested positive for COVID-19 today. I’m thankful to have been fully vaccinated and boosted to protect against severe illness. Following CDC guidelines, I’ll be isolating and continue working remotely on behalf of Nevadans.
— Senator Jacky Rosen (@SenJackyRosen) September 6, 2022
Current guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and prevention would keep Rosen out at least until early next week.
The full House passed its versions of the annual National Defense Authorization Act over the summer. The full Senate had yet to vote on its version of the bill as of Wednesday. Each proposal authorizes about $22 billion for the NNSA and would give the agency permission to continue developing a nuclear warhead for a sea-launched cruise missile that President Joe Biden’s (D) administration wanted to cancel.
Rosen often joins with Sen. Catherin Cortez-Masto to support construction of the expanded U1a complex at the NNSA’s Nevada National Security site, and to block funding of the congressionally authorized deep geological nuclear-waste repository at Yucca Mountain in Nye County, Nev.
The CDC now recommend that people who test positive for COVID-19 isolate themselves from others for at least five days and possibly as many as 10. The CDC suggests ending isolation after five days only for those who have been fever free for 24 hours have whose symptoms have improved.
Members of Congress are slowly returning from their annual August recess: a period of campaigning and visiting with constituents in their districts and home states. The Department of Energy, meanwhile has largely scaled back COVID-19 restrictions at its major defense-nuclear sites, suspending collection of vaccination-status data and requiring masks only for sites in areas of high transmission.
