The Oregon House will shut down for up to two weeks after reports of a positive COVID-19 case involving someone on the House floor last week.

Legislative activity in the Capitol came to a sudden halt on Monday after word spread of a COVID-19 tied to the chamber last week.

“The House will not return to floor session until Monday, March 29, at the earliest,” said Danny Moran, spokesman for House Speaker Tina Kotek, D-Portland. “Committee work, which is being done remotely, will continue as planned.”

Kotek confirmed a positive case of the virus during an afternoon press call.  She said it involved someone who worked on the House floor but could not yet say whether it was a lawmaker or staffer because of medical privacy issues.

The speaker had abruptly adjourned Monday’s session at 1 p.m. without comment. Only later did she tell lawmakers, staff and the media that it involved a COVID-19 case.

“We want to keep members safe,” Kotek said.

During the press call, Kotek said she planned to bring the 60 House members back to the capitol on Wednesday after a review of public health protocols.

House Minority Leader Christine Drazan, R-Canby, said lawmakers should leave the capitol and quarantine for up to two weeks.

“Out of an abundance of caution, my immediate recommendation is for legislators and staff to minimize the risk of an outbreak in Oregon’s capitol by returning home,” Drazan said.

Drazan said returning Wednesday would put the health of lawmakers and staff at jeopardy.

“There are several elected members from the House with underlying conditions who have not had the opportunity to vaccinate yet,” Drazan said.

Kotek issued a statement late Monday afternoon that after consulting with Marion County health officials, the House members would quarantine through at least March 29.

Whether or not the Senate will proceed with floor sessions planned for later this week wasn’t immediately known.

The Legislature has not been vaccinated as a group. Individual members who are over 65 or fall into early priority groups could be inoculated.

But lawmakers as a group are not eligible until April 19, when essential workers can seek vaccination.

The report of a positive COVID-19 case in Oregon’s legislature came after Idaho’s legislature voted March 19 to adjourn until April following a report that six House members had tested positive.

Oregon is one of only four states that has not reported a COVID-19 case involving a state lawmaker or executive officer, according to the political tracking website Ballotpedia.org. 

Nationwide, 221 legislators and executive officeholders have been infected in 46 states. Vermont, Maryland and Delaware are the only other states besides Oregon to report no cases to date.

Kotek’s abrupt adjournment Monday at first seemed out of frustration over House Republicans requiring each bill be read in full prior to debate and a vote.

At the beginning of the press call, Kotek criticized Drazan and other GOP caucus leaders as “not interested in being part of the process.” House Republicans have opted not to observe the usual courtesy of having bills read by their short title only.

The requirement that bills be read in full has brought the pace of action to a crawl. 

Drazan has said the slowdown is an attempt to get Kotek to jettison legislation other than bills dealing with the budget, COVID-19 and wildfire relief. 

“The House is running a crushing number of committees and pushing controversial legislation,” Drazan said in a statement earlier Monday.

Lawmakers have 98 days until the constitutional deadline for the Legislature to adjourn on June 28.

Drazan said bills were being drafted “on the fly” with little to no public input. She said revisions of bills were often given to Republican committee members at the last minute.

Told of Kotek’s comment that GOP leaders were abdicating a role in the law-making process, drazan accused Kotek of an unwillingness to “compromise or work to build bipartisan support.”

Kotek said in the past, the parliamentary delaying tactics were used around a specific piece of legislation that Republicans wanted to slow. This session, it is being used in a blanket fashion to stall even bills that are bipartisan and uncontroversial.

“I am frustrated this is becoming normalized behavior,” Kotek said.

Voters have given Democrats a supermajority of more than three-fifths of the seats in the House and Senate, Kotek noted.

The Republican tactics are an attempt by those who lose most elections to derail the agenda on which the winners – Democrats – were elected.

“At the end of the day, votes will matter,” Kotek said.