Gee & Ursula: Should Washington lawmaker ask colleagues for COVID treatment in El Salvador?

Last week, Washington State Senator Doug Ericksen revealed that he had tested positive for COVID-19 while in El Salvador, and asked his GOP colleagues to send him monoclonal antibodies to treat his illness. But should he be able to leverage his power as a state lawmaker to receive treatment?

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For KIRO Radio’s Gee Scott and Ursula Reutin, the decision seemed like a no-brainer, particularly given reports that Ericksen is suffering from a severe case of the virus.

“If I’m dealing with COVID, I’m using every resource I can,” Ursula said on Monday’s edition of KIRO Radio’s Gee & Ursula Show.

That said, she also pointed out that the optics might not look great, given Ericksen’s vocal opposition to COVID vaccine mandates.

“I would have tried not to get myself in that position in the first place, and he has to understand how some people might look at that and say, ‘well, this is a guy who has spoken so much against the mandate, and here he is traveling to a place that has a really low vaccination rate,'” she noted.

“I don’t blame him one bit,” Gee said. “If I’m over there in a situation where, by the way, COVID is real, and I’m in a life or death situation, in the case of this gentleman, I’m sending emails, I’m sending texts, I’m calling in favors, I’m using everything in the book.”

KIRO Radio producer Laura Scott, though, has a different take.

“I just think that his past position on vaccine mandates completely aside, and the idea of texting everyone in your phone to see if you have anyone in your network aside — which I do agree with — using an official platform is such an abuse of power,” she said. “It’s not a good use of your colleagues’ time, either.”

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.