Louisiana Republican Lawmaker Says He Has COVID for the Second Time: 'Far More Challenging'

Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call

Rep. Clay Higgins and his family have contracted COVID-19, which he says he faced once before early last year.

The Louisiana Republican, 59, announced the recurrence of the coronavirus Sunday on Facebook. "I have COVID, Becca has COVID, my son has COVID," he wrote. "Becca and I had COVID before, early on, in January 2020, before the world really knew what it was."

"So, this is our second experience … and this episode is far more challenging. It has required all of my devoted energy," Higgins continued.

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Higgins added that he and his family are expected to "recover fully" from the virus. "We are all under excellent care, and our prognosis is positive," Higgins wrote. "We are very healthy generally speaking, and our treatment of any health concern always encompasses western, eastern, and holistic variables."

The New Orleans native has come out in support of people getting vaccinated, but he opposes mandating inoculation on a federal level. "I want every American who wants a vaccine to get it," Higgins told Louisiana's American Press in April. "It should be available, and it should be free."

He added that he was "naturally immunized" from having the virus more than a year before, according to his doctor. Additionally, Higgins said he refuses to get vaccinated until the entire at-risk population has had a chance, and he does not believe members of Congress should have priority access to the vaccine.

"Our nurses, doctors and eldery and Americans with underlying health conditions need to be first in line," he said. Louisiana has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country, with 76,624 doses administered per 100,000 people, according to Centers of Disease Control and Prevention's COVID Data Tracker.

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Higgins also said at the time that he and his wife had previously contracted COVID last January, and his father-in-law died from the virus in December.

The highly contagious Delta variant is currently spiking in regions of the country with low numbers of vaccinated people. According to the CDC, more than 97% of those currently hospitalized for severe COVID-19 infections are unvaccinated.