A pair of Republican megadonors who funded efforts against Wisconsin's stay-at-home orders have tested positive for the deadly coronavirus.
Liz and Dick Uihlein, founders of the shipping supply giant Uline, tested positive for the highly contagious virus after an Election Night party at the White House linked to at least five other cases within the Trump administration and re-election campaign, reported the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
"Dick and I tested positive for COVID," Liz Uihlein wrote in an email to Uline employees. "After all these long months, I thought we'd never get it. Well, Trump [got] it... If we had not been around people with COVID, we would not have been tested."
Liz Uihlein, who attended the White House party, told employees she and her husband would return to the office Nov. 19, and advised workers with COVID-19 symptoms to get tested and return to work 10 days after receiving positive test results if they did not have symptoms.
"If you don't have any symptoms, you are expected to continue working," the email said.
A company spokesman refused to comment on the email obtained by the Journal Sentinel or confirm the positive COVID-19 tests.
The couple objected to Democratic Gov. Tony Evers' lockdown orders and encouraged employees to sign a petition asking for a recall.
The company reportedly required employees to stay on the job in March despite complaints about crowded conditions, and one Uline manager sent a note urging employees to downplay the illness, although the company disputed the reports.
"If you, or family members, are under the weather with cold/allergies — or anything aside from Covid-19," the note read, "Please do NOT tell your peers about the symptoms & your assumptions. By doing so, you are causing unnecessary panic in the office."
Sources told the Journal Sentinel that Liz Uihlein had recently been in the Uline offices and was not wearing a mask.
