State senator Ericksen tests positive for Covid-19

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State senator Doug Ericksen (R-Ferndale) is reportedly stuck in El Salvador after testing positive for Covid-19 and asking state legislators for help.

Ericksen, who represents the 42nd district in Whatcom County, told Seattle-based KIRO Radio November 12 he was fighting the virus in the country he’s known to frequent often.

This comes after an email circulated on Twitter of Ericksen asking GOP state lawmakers for help to find monoclonal antibodies, which he says are not available in the country, to treat his Covid-19 symptoms. Ericksen tested positive shortly after arrival, he said in the email.

“I cannot get back home, and it’s to the point that I feel it would be beneficial for me to receive an IV of monoclonal antibodies,” he wrote to House and Senate lawmakers, circulating on the unofficial Twitter account, Rotunda Tweets, and confirmed by multiple news outlets. “I have a doctor here who can administer the IV, but the product is not available here.”

Ericksen, 52, went on to ask the Republican lawmakers if they knew how to send him the Regenron product, which can reduce the risk of becoming seriously ill from Covid-19. He asked for the treatment to be delivered overnight.

Ericksen’s vaccination status is unclear, as well as his purpose for travel to El Salvador.

Throughout the pandemic Ericksen has been outspoken in his opposition to governor Jay Inslee’s Covid-19 emergency proclamations, and called on the governor to resign in late October after the governor’s insistence on mask and vaccine mandates.

Ericksen has been tied to El Salvador in the past. The Olympian newspaper reported earlier this year that he had missed more votes during the virtual legislative session than any other Washington state lawmaker in 2021, in part, due to travels to the Central American country.

Ericksen has been in office since 2011.

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