Sen. Rand Paul, Kentucky Republican, announced Tuesday that he has recovered from the novel coronavirus, and what’s more, he’s pitching in at a local hospital to help treat patients.

“I appreciate all the best wishes I have received. I have been retested and I am negative,” tweeted Mr. Paul. “I have started volunteering at a local hospital to assist those in my community who are in need of medical help, including Coronavirus patients. Together we will overcome this!”

Mr. Paul, who posted a photo of himself in a white lab coat sporting a scraggly beard, is an eye surgeon who received his M.D. from the Duke University School of Medicine, and has previously worked in emergency rooms.

He began volunteering at TriStar Greenview Regional Hospital in Bowling Green, Kentucky, during the Senate break for the pandemic.

Hospital CEO Mike Sherrod told the Associated Press in a statement Tuesday that the senator is “lifting the spirits of patients and our colleagues.”

I appreciate all the best wishes I have received. I have been retested and I am negative. I have started volunteering at a local hospital to assist those in my community who are in need of medical help, including Coronavirus patients. Together we will overcome this! pic.twitter.com/9SeypT7rL6 — Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) April 7, 2020

“We appreciate Senator Paul and his support in recognizing our healthcare workers and providers at TriStar Greenview for their unwavering response to the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Mr. Sherrod.

Despite being asymptomatic, Mr. Paul, 57, tested positive for COVID-19 on March 22. He immediately left the Senate and placed himself in quarantine, but came under criticism for attending a Speed Art Museum fundraiser after being tested but before receiving the results.

He said he and his wife were tested because they travel extensively, and that he was at high risk as a result of having part of his lung removed following a 2017 assault, not because he had symptoms or contact with anyone who had tested positive.

“I didn’t fit the criteria for testing or quarantine,” Mr. Paul said in a March 23 statement. “I had no symptoms and no specific encounter with a COVID-19 positive person. I had, however, traveled extensively in the U.S. and was required to continue doing so to vote in the Senate. That, together with the fact that I have a compromised lung, led me to seek testing.”

He added that he had no contact with two individuals at the fundraiser who later announced they had tested positive.

• The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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