One of Utah’s top legislative leaders has tested positive for COVID-19.
House Majority Leader Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, tested positive after feeling ill Tuesday, a House staff member confirmed to the Deseret News on Friday.
Schultz attended interim meetings at the state Capitol in Salt Lake City on Tuesday. Later that evening he began experiencing symptoms and received a positive test, a House spokeswoman said.
Schultz did not attend interim meetings Wednesday.
Schultz is the latest of several Utah lawmakers who have tested positive for COVID-19 since the onset of the pandemic.
Rep. Jon Hawkins, R-Pleasant Grove, almost died from COVID-19, spending weeks hospitalized and unconscious. He missed the majority of the Utah Legislature’s 2021 general session as many of his colleagues feared for his life.
Another member of Utah’s legislative leadership, Senate President Stuart Adams, tested positive for COVID-19 antibodies in June 2020, though he said he never realized he had contracted the deadly virus.
Schultz was recently elected by his fellow Republicans as House majority leader, taking the place of former House Majority Leader Francis Gibson, R-Mapleton. Gibson last month announced his resignation from the Legislature, saying he needed to focus more on his family.
This story will be updated.