Southfield state lawmaker tests positive for COVID-19

State Rep. Kyra Bolden has tested positive for the coronavirus, joining other Michigan legislators who have announced the same diagnosis in recent months. 

The first-term Southfield Democrat said in a Facebook post Tuesday she was notified Nov. 12 that she'd been exposed to a colleague who had the virus, but didn't say which lawmaker it was. Bolden said she has since been in quarantine.

Her first test, taken while asymptomatic, came back negative, but a second test, taken after she experienced symptoms, came back positive. 

"This virus is very real, and each of us must be responsible to do all that we can to ensure we are staying safe, and that means quarantining after exposure and informing folks we may have come in contact with after receiving a positive test result," Bolden wrote on her Facebook page.

Bolden said her symptoms "have been very mild, and I am on the mend." She noted it was a stuffy nose that prompted her to take the second test.

"I’m encouraging my colleagues to take this virus seriously and to get tested out of an abundance of caution, particularly before returning to committee and session," Bolden said. 

Bolden is at least the eighth lawmaker to announce a positive test result for the virus. 

State Sen. Kim LaSata, R-Bainbridge Township; Rep. Ann Bollin, R-Brighton; Rep. Scott VanSingel, R-Grant; and Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich, D-Flint, announced positive diagnoses this month. 

Rep. Beau LaFave, R-Iron Mountain, tested positive in September; Sen. Tom Barrett, R-Charlotte, in August; and State Reps. Karen Whitsett, D-Detroit, and Tyrone Carter, D-Detroit, in the spring. 

State Rep. Isaac Robinson, D-Detroit, died on March 29 from an illness that his family believed was linked to the coronavirus.

eleblanc@detroitnews.com