Massachusetts state Rep. Liz Miranda announced Wednesday that she and “many” members of her family across multiple households have tested positive for the coronavirus.
Miranda shared on Facebook that she was tested for COVID-19 at Bowdoin Street Health Center last week and was told on May 1 that she was positive.
“Since then, many of my family members across multiple households were tested and also found to be positive for COVID-19,” she wrote. “Some were negative. I am so grateful to the healthcare professionals at our hospitals and community health centers for providing testing and care to my family, and to families like mine.”
Miranda told The Boston Globe that her father is hospitalized with the illness and about 15 other members of her family have contracted the illness after a funeral was held for her grandmother on April 22. She said it isn’t clear if the virus spread among the family at the funeral, which included no more than 10 people and followed strict social distancing.
“We were well-informed and followed all protocols, and yet it still happened,” she told the newspaper. “So we want to make sure that people know that no one is immune to COVID-19.”
The Boston Democrat, whose district includes Roxbury and Dorchester, said on Facebook that she is currently resting at home. Since she went to get tested for the virus on April 30, she has been experiencing extreme fatigue, headaches, a dry cough, loss of taste and smell, and body aches.
Most of her family is experiencing mild symptoms of the virus, she wrote, and everyone is self-quarantining in their homes.
“What I want to stress is that my family is unsure about how we were exposed,” Miranda wrote. “Communities like Roxbury and Dorchester have seen a disproportionate level of infections and deaths from the COVID-19. Nobody is immune to this virus, and we should continue to take this disease and preventing its spread very seriously.”
The state representative urged everyone to stay home except for essential outings.
“It is vitally important to follow the physical distancing and sanitizing guidelines to prevent further transmission of this disease,” she wrote.
Miranda said she will resume working remotely for her district as soon as she is recovered.
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