Rep. Louie Gohmert Reveals He's Turning to Hydroxychloroquine After Positive COVID Test
Republican Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas, who on Wednesday announced that he has tested positive for the coronavirus, said he will be taking the drug hydroxychloroquine as part of his treatment plan.
The anti-malarial drug has shown some promise as a treatment for individuals infected with the virus. Its use has been supported by President Donald Trump, which has led to extensive media pushback criticizing the drug.
Gohmert revealed his treatment plans during an interview Wednesday night with Fox News host Sean Hannity.
After Hannity asked Gohmert about hydroxychloroquine, the Texas Republican credited the anchor with helping him learn about the drug.
“My doctor and I are all in,” Gohmert said.
“And I got a text just before I came on from a dear friend doctor, who just found out he had it, and he said he started a [hydroxychloroquine] regimen, too,” he said.
“So zinc, erythromycin, and hydroxychloroquine, and that will start just in the next day or two. So thank you,” he told Hannity.
Gohmert had been tested because he was going to the White House prior to flying to Texas on Air Force One along with President Donald Trump.
“I feel OK. I’m a little tired,” he said. “But if you know the symptoms of COVID-19, I don’t have any of them.”
“The president, don’t you love him, he called me from Air Force One on the way home tonight and … I told him: ‘Mr. President, if you would not [have] invited me to go with you to West Texas, I would never have known I had the coronavirus,'” Gohmert said.
“That’s what I got tested for it and then I found out I had it.”
Gohmert noted the media reaction to his positive test.
“I got a tiny little taste of what you and the president get every day,” Gohmert told Hannity. “The left went nuts.”
He said he was falsely accused of contaminating the gym reserved for members of Congress.
“I hadn’t been in the gym in months,” he said.
He also pointed out that in the aftermath of his announcement that he had tested positive, he was falsely accused of berating staff members who wore masks.
Gohmert had made his announcement in a video posted to Twitter:
My statement about today’s diagnosis: pic.twitter.com/qvf7zIcgdN
— Louie Gohmert (@replouiegohmert) July 29, 2020
“Hi, Louie Gohmert here. The reports of my demise are a great deal premature,” he began.
The Texas Republican explained how and why he was tested.
“Went to the White House today. But before you go in formally to the White House, they test you with a quick test, and it tested positive, but they get false positives sometimes, so they retested me with the swab that goes way up in your sinuses, and it finally came back. It was positive too,” he said.
Gohmert emphasized that he has no symptoms.
“I’m asymptomatic. I don’t have any of the symptoms that are listed as part of COVID-19, but apparently I have the Wuhan virus. Rand Paul was just texting me that the good news is that in 10 days or so I should be fairly well immune,” he said.
The staunchly conservative Republican denied reports that he had been criticized for not wearing a mask at a House hearing.
“I’ve worn a mask more the last week or two than I have in the whole last four months, and I was wearing my mask at the Judiciary hearing. And a couple of the other guys had mentioned earlier today, ‘well, [House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jerrold] Nadler wasn’t fussing at you. You had your mask. It was a couple of the other guys weren’t wearing their mask,'” he said.
Gohmert suggested masks can be part of the problem.
“I don’t know about everybody, but when I have a mask on, I’m moving it to make comfortable. And I can’t help but wonder if that, you know, puts some germs in the mask. Keep your hands off your mask,” he said.
“But anyway, who knows? But now that I apparently have it, I will be very, very careful to make sure that I don’t give it anybody else, and we’ll see how it goes. God bless you all.”
Democratic Rep. Sylvia Garcia of Houston, a fellow member of the House Judiciary Committee, said it was “disturbing” to see her colleagues not wear masks.
“I just find i find it very disturbing that there are still many of my colleagues, especially in Judiciary, that are just not following the attending physicians’ guidelines,” she told The Texas Tribune for an article published Wednesday. “We’re going to have to find a way to make it a rule — and perhaps make it a rule with sanctions — because we’re spending too much time in Judiciary either arguing about it or talking about it, and we’re all on edge because they’re not wearing their masks.”
“I’m not sure why, but it’s just very disturbing.”
Gohmert said there is a way for those who only want to be surrounded by mask-wearers to ensure that happens.
“If somebody feels strongly about everybody should wear a mask, then they shouldn’t be around people that don’t wear masks,” he told KETK-TV.
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