Riot on Capitol Hill may have put lawmakers at risk of coronavirus infection

Attending physician of the Congress warned On Sunday, MPs said they could have been exposed to the coronavirus last week, after evacuating the House chamber when pro-Trump insurgents stormed the U.S. Capitol.

In an email, attending physician Dr Brian Monahan wrote that after being evacuated to “a large committee hearing space,” the members “may have been exposed to another occupant with a coronavirus infection ”.

“Please continue with your usual daily coronavirus risk reduction measures,” Monahan continued in the email, and “get an RT-PCR coronavirus test next week as a precaution.”

Monahan’s warning is particularly striking in the context of a video obtained last week by Punchbowl News – a new outlet launched in early 2021 by a handful of Politico alumni – which shows evacuated House members exposed and close to each other.

In the video, a lawmaker – Representative Lisa Blunt Rochester, a Democrat from Delaware – can be seen offering masks to other members, but many decline the offer.

“Even though I was disappointed by my colleagues who refused to wear a mask, I was encouraged by those who did,” Rochester said in a tweet Friday after the video went public. “My goal, in the midst of what I feared was a super spreader event, was to at least make the room a little bit safer.

It’s unclear if the room in the video is the same one that Monahan’s email warns was the location of potential exposure to the coronavirus, but the footage, combined with the email, raises concern. alarming possibility of a Covid-19 outbreak on Capitol Hill.

As of Wednesday, at least one House member – Republican Jake LaTurner of Kansas – has announced that he has tested positive for Covid-19, although it is once again unclear whether LaTurner is the person infected with a coronavirus referenced in Monahan’s email.

LaTurner, Congressman for the first term, confirmed in a tweet that he tested positive Wednesday night – the same day the Capitol was attacked.

“Congressman LaTurner is following the House Physician’s advice and CDC guidelines,” a tweet from his official account says, “And, therefore, has no intention of returning to the House to vote until he is allowed to do so.”

There are also obvious coronavirus concerns over the crowd of largely maskless pro-Trump insurgents who invaded Capitol Hill on Wednesday. Many of these insurgents were in close contact with members of the Capitol Police as lawmakers evacuated.

“You cannot keep your distance if you are trying to leave a very intense and dangerous situation,” respiratory virus transmission expert Seema Lakdawala told The New York Times last week. “You weigh the risk of your life against the risk of contracting a virus at that time.”

It is also of concern that if Wednesday’s events result in additional cases of Covid-19 – or even turn into a very widespread event, although there is currently no evidence that has occurred – Congress is a population. particularly vulnerable.

In particular, age is an important risk factor for severe cases of Covid-19. According to the Mayo Clinic, about 80% of deaths from the virus in the United States are among people aged 65 and over – and the average age of Democratic House leaders in the 116th Congress (the 117th Congress began last Sunday) was 71 years old. the entire previous Congressional Democratic caucus was 58, and 57 for the Republican conference.

One fact that could help limit any potential spread, however, is that many members of Congress – including high-ranking members of every party in the House and Senate – have already received the first of two Covid-19 vaccinations, which, hopefully, lowers the risk of an epidemic. As Kelsey Piper of Vox explained, “Taking a single dose further reduces a person’s chances of contracting Covid-19 by 80 to 90%, at least initially.

Congress spared the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic

Despite the risk factors on Capitol Hill, Congress has so far been spared the worst of the coronavirus pandemic. As of mid-December, 49 members from both chambers had tested positive for Covid-19, although that number has since increased, and there have been no deaths among active members.

However, elected representative Luke Letlow, 41, died of coronavirus at the end of December, just days before his swearing-in as a member of the 117th Congress.

Even elderly members of Congress like Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, 87, who tested positive in November, had the experience healthy, although Alaska Representative Don Young, also 87 years, said on twitter after surviving the virus which “quite frankly hadn’t felt so sick in a very long time.”

This is in stark contrast to the current plight of the country as a whole: Overshadowed by Wednesday’s insurgency on Capitol Hill, the United States on Thursday reported the highest single-day death toll from the pandemic with 4,112 deaths .

The United States also recorded 300,000 new cases in a single day on Friday for the very first time, reporting 300,594 cases. On average, the country has reported 253,958 new cases per day over the past seven days, according to the New York Times.

The broader rollout of the U.S. vaccine is also well overdue, with just 5.9 million people vaccinated on Thursday, well below the 20 million who the Trump administration said would be vaccinated by the end of December.

The winds may change in the near future: Dr Anthony Fauci, the country’s leading infectious disease specialist, said last week that although the initial vaccine rollout failed, “I believe we will regain our momentum. as we go through the holidays. season in the first two weeks of January. “

And President-elect Joe Biden, who will be inaugurated in 10 days, has pledged a large-scale vaccination effort to get “at least 100 million Covid vaccines in the arms of the American people” in his first 100 days in office. .

To do so, Biden said he would make a somewhat controversial change to the U.S. distribution strategy, releasing all available doses at the same time. The two vaccines currently cleared for widespread use in the United States require two doses, and the Trump administration had chosen to withhold doses to ensure those who receive their first dose are guaranteed to have a second available at the time. expected time to receive it.

But even as the U.S. vaccination effort improves in the coming weeks, the pandemic is currently tearing the United States apart uncontrollably – and Wednesday’s events could have made Congress more vulnerable than ever to the virus.