Texas Republican Representative Kevin Brady tests positive for Covid-19

“Tonite, the family doctor’s office informed me that I had tested positive for Covid 19 and that I am quarantined”, he tweeted. “As recommended, I received a first dose of the Pfizer vaccine on December 18 and also recently tested negative for Covid on New Years Day.”

News of Brady’s diagnosis follows another member of the Texas Republican delegation, Rep. Kay Granger, tested positive for the virus, and on the eve of the congressional rally to certify the Election College’s vote of 2020 – an event where social distancing guidelines will be all but scrapped. The joint session of Congress will mean no less than 535 members who make up the House and Senate will meet in the House chamber at any given time.

In a note obtained by CNN, the sergeant-at-arms and house medic on Tuesday gave members official directives that they should only physically attend the joint session on Wednesday if they want to speak. If they want to speak, it is stated that they should contact the leaders, the memo said, stating that “Unless participating in the joint session, members are encouraged to stay in their offices unless they are. be called to vote ”.

Minority Leader Steny Hoyer said on Monday the chamber was working to maintain more security protocols, but acknowledged that keeping what may be 535 members in compliance will not be easy.

Unlike the rules that governed the opening sitting of the House – which limited the number of Members to 72, but which were rendered moot when a majority of the House met en masse on the floor as a result of ‘a call for a vote recorded by Republican Texas Rep. Chip Roy – there will be no limit to the number of people in the chamber on Wednesday, according to a senior Democratic official.

The House is poised to roll out the same mitigation measures that have been in place – mandatory masks on the floor, delineation of seats to maintain social distancing, and opening of the podium for members to disperse. And, according to the rules governing certification, members are not required to be in the chamber and are strongly encouraged to watch the proceedings from their desks.

However, the aide said, few members should want to miss the debate on the certification process and leaders expect a very full chamber – meaning hundreds of members are expected to congregate in the chamber in the midst of ‘a pandemic.

Voting, when it takes place, will take place in the same seven blocks that were used in Sunday’s roll-call vote.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the House would re-allow proxy voting until February 18, which allows MPs to vote through another MP.