Rep. Case contracts COVID, will miss congressional tour of Lahaina

U.S. Rep. Ed Case says he has contracted COVID-19 and will not attend today’s scheduled tour of Lahaina with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and other Congress members.

Case is isolating at home and will continue working on congressional business as he can, his office said in a news release this morning.

“While we’ve come a long way through this pandemic, COVID-19 infection rates are climbing. We need to utilize the proven tools to reverse this latest trend, including CDC safety protocols, testing and vaccines,” the Democratic congressman said in the release.

He believes this is the first time he has contracted COVID-19, the release said.

McCarthy’s office announced Friday that he will be joined on Maui by a bipartisan delegation, including Democrats Rep. Jill Tokuda of Hawaii and Rep. Jared Moskowitz of Florida, and Republican Reps. David Joyce of Ohio and Russ Fulcher of Idaho.

Joyce is the chairperson of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security with oversight and funding responsibility for the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Coast Guard, Case said.

Case said the delegation will view the devastation of Lahaina by air and ground, meet with survivors, and review the federal and other responses. He said Gov. Josh Green and Maui Mayor Richard Bissen will brief the Congress members “on specific needs and issues.”

“Our delegation’s goal with our congressional colleagues has been to invite as many of them as we can to come to Maui and see and feel the devastation and recovery challenges for themselves,” Case said in the news release. “When you do that, it’s impossible to treat this disaster as a distant event and impossible to ignore the compelling life-and-death needs of our community which must be addressed fully by our federal government.”