MIAMI — Miami Congresswoman-elect María Elvira Salazar will be unable to attend a Sunday ceremony in Washington to swear in members of the new Congress after learning she has COVID-19 during an emergency trip to the hospital, her office announced Thursday morning.
Salazar, a Republican who last month defeated Democratic U.S. Rep. Donna Shalala in perhaps the most surprising congressional upset in the country, learned she had contracted the coronavirus overnight after she was admitted to Doctors Hospital with a heart arrhythmia, according to a press release issued Thursday.
Salazar was treated and released, according to her office. Salazar says she will now quarantine for at least 14 days, forcing her to miss a Jan. 3 ceremony in Washington to swear-in members of the 117th Congress.
"I am incredibly thankful to the tireless front-line medical workers in our community, who help so many people combating the COVID-19 pandemic," Salazar, 59, said in a statement. "I am in quarantine at home and getting better each day. I look forward to hitting the ground running for my community, once it is medically permissible."
Since the pandemic began, the Florida Department of Health has reported 295,936 cases of COVID-19 in Miami-Dade County, where, as in many places in the country, the number of positive cases is on the rise.
Other members of Miami's new congressional delegation have contracted COVID-19, including Congressman-elect Carlos Gimenez and U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart. On Tuesday, Luke Letlow, an incoming Republican congressman from Louisiana, died of complications of COVID-19.
