‘Worrisome’ mystery grows with no updates on state lawmaker who contracted COVID

The status of Washington State Senator Doug Ericksen remains a mystery to the public, having last been heard from in November after getting a medevac flight to Florida, after testing positive for COVID-19 while in El Salvador.

State lawmaker ill with COVID in El Salvador now in Florida

According to a recent report from the Bellingham Herald, attempts to contact Ericksen and his legislative office have been met with few details, with one staff member stating only that “it’s all going through the family now.”

As KIRO Radio’s Gee & Ursula Show discussed Monday, there appear to be “a combination of red flags with this,” particularly in the wake of devastating flooding in Whatcom County, which is among the areas Ericksen represents in the Legislature.

“For there to be a lack of communication or understanding of where this person is during the time that Whatcom County has been going through, what they’ve been going through, that is a worrisome situation,” co-host Gee Scott said.

Ericksen had reportedly tested positive for COVID-19 shortly after arriving in El Salvador in November, before reaching out to his colleagues in the Legislature, asking that they send him monoclonal antibodies to treat his illness. It remains unclear why he was traveling to El Salvador in the first place. In the past, Ericksen has missed several votes in the state Senate while in the country, citing participation in “legislative actions” as an election observer, according to an April report from the Tacoma News Tribune.

Regardless of why he was out of the state in the first place, people have only been able to guess at the senator’s reasons for remaining silent on his status, particularly given his well-documented opposition to COVID restrictions.

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“Before he got sick, Erickson had been critical of the state’s mandates to stop the spread of COVID, including business closures, social distancing, and masking,” co-host Ursula Reutin pointed out. “So it’s hard to know — is it that they’re trying not to release any information because of his previous stances? Or do people really not know where he is or what’s happened?”

“At the end of the day, maybe they know what’s going on with him, maybe they don’t, but I do really hope that he’s OK,” Gee added.

Listen to the Gee and Ursula Show weekday mornings from 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. on KIRO Radio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.