No information has been available for three weeks about the location or condition of Republican state Sen. Doug Ericksen of Ferndale, who was reportedly being treated for COVID-19 at a Florida hospital after testing positive for the virus in El Salvador.
Calls to Ericksen have not been returned recently, leading to public speculation about his condition.
Several of Ericksen’s constituents have written The Bellingham Herald, wondering why there has been no updated information.
Well-wishers have also sent messages to his public Facebook page, which has not been updated recently.
Ericksen’s legislative staff members have told The Bellingham Herald that they can’t comment.
“I really don’t have any information. It’s all going through the family now,” Ericksen’s legislative assistant Sandy Ruff said Thursday, Dec. 9.
Brad Hendrickson, secretary of the Senate, told The Herald on Friday, Dec. 10, that Ericksen hasn’t reached out to the Senate administration.
“We haven’t seen any communication from him during this whole ordeal,” Hendrickson said.
Whatcom Republicans Chairman John Ramsey told The Herald that he’d heard nothing about Ericksen’s condition.
On Nov. 19, Ericksen was reported in stable condition at a Fort Lauderdale hospital and improving after receiving treatment for COVID-19, according to former state Rep. Luanne Van Werven, who said she had spoken with the Ericksen family.
In a text message Friday, Van Werven told The Herald that she had no new information and it would be best to contact Ericksen’s family.
The Herald has made multiple unsuccessful attempts to reach the family.
Ericksen wasn’t listed as a patient in large Fort Lauderdale hospitals on Friday.
Ericksen, 52, appealed to his House and Senate colleagues through legislative channels on Nov. 11, saying that he was suffering from COVID-19 and believed that he would benefit from receiving monoclonal antibodies, an approved treatment unavailable in El Salvador.
He said he was unable to get a commercial flight out of the Central American nation, where he was an election observer in late February, according to an earlier McClatchy news story.
“I took a trip to El Salvador and tested positive for COVID shortly after I arrived,” Ericksen said in a message to members of the state House and Senate.
He arranged a medevac flight from El Salvador that weekend, Van Werven said.
While Ericksen has been ailing, several parts of his 42nd Legislative District were hit by catastrophic flooding that damaged some 1,900 homes, businesses and other buildings.
His legislative counterparts, Rep. Alicia Rule, D-Blaine, and Rep. Sharon Shewmake, D-Bellingham, have helped with cleanup efforts and have promised aid to the flood-stricken communities of Everson, Nooksack and Sumas.
Gov. Jay Inslee visited Whatcom County to see the devastation first-hand.
Whatcom County Councilwoman Kathy Kershner, former chairwoman of the Whatcom Republicans, told The Herald that she knows that Ericksen would be in his district if it were possible, and that she was praying for his recovery.
In November, Shewmake said she will run in the August 2022 primary for Ericksen’s state Senate seat.
Ericksen’s staff was unable to say if he planned to seek a fourth Senate term in 2022.
He has been elected to the state Senate three times, most recently in 2018. He served in the house from 1998 to 2010, when he ran for the Senate.
Ericksen said in December that he would introduce a state law to prevent vaccine mandates of the kind issued in August by Inslee, several counties and cities, and private employers.
He’s also been critical of continuing state measures aimed at limiting the spread of COVID-19, including business closures, social distancing and masking.
His vaccination status was unknown.
According to photos posted on the Whatcom Business Alliance public Facebook page, Ericksen attended the organization’s Oct. 28 “Leaders of Industry Issues Forum” and is shown not wearing a mask or face covering.
This story was originally published December 10, 2021 12:20 PM.
