“Congressional offices, Commissions and Agencies should immediately review their operations to adopt maximum teleworking posture in order to reduce face-to-face meetings and in-office activities to a minimum. as much as possible,” attending physician Brain Monahan said Monday.
Pablo Porciuncula / AFP via Getty Images
hide captions
switch captions
Pablo Porciuncula / AFP via Getty Images
“Congressional offices, Commissions and Agencies should immediately review their operations to adopt maximum teleworking posture in order to reduce face-to-face meetings and in-office activities to a minimum. as much as possible,” attending physician Brain Monahan said Monday.
Pablo Porciuncula / AFP via Getty Images
Congress’s chief physician is urging lawmakers and staff to take extra precautions in protecting themselves from the coronavirus as the Capitol grapples with an outbreak in COVID-19 cases.
Capitol’s Brian Monahan said Monday that “the seven-day positivity rate of the Capitol COVID-19 testing center has increased from less than 1% to more than 13%” since late November.
In a letter to congressional offices, Monahan advised members to shift the focus to teleworking, noting that hundreds of people have been infected. For those who choose to stay on the Hill, he recommends replacing the cloth face covering with a stronger N95 or KN95 mask.
“Congressional offices, Commissions and Agencies should immediately review their operations to adopt maximum teleworking posture in order to reduce face-to-face meetings and in-office activities to the extent possible. as much as possible,” Monahan wrote.
The increase in positive cases at the Capitol reflects what is happening across Washington DC – the city with the highest infection rate and hospitalization rate pandemic — and nationally, as the highly infectious omicron variant pushes cases to all-time highs.
Monahan notes most cases on Hill are due to omicron and delta variations. As of December 15, a limited sampling of cases showed that 61% of cases were omicron-related and 38% delta-related, he writes. The recent cases also appear to be breakthrough infections in vaccinated people. So far, no one has reported serious complications, hospitalization or death, he said.
The role of the doctor attending Congress was created more than 90 years ago, in an era when an alarming number of legislators died each year. Causes of death can range from overwork to flu outbreaks.
“In 1928 alone, incumbent members of the Senate and House of Representatives died at a staggering rate of nearly 20 people a year,” according to the report. Senate website.
According to Monahan, although the number of cases has skyrocketed in the Capitol, it is not a place where lawmakers and staff are infected. “While many infections can be detected through testing in the workplace, the most common risk of infection are individuals’ activities outside of the workplace, such as attending parties,” he said. receptions, entertainment venues, celebrations, family gatherings, travel and crowded indoor situations”. .
The Senate is scheduled to meet this week, although a heavy snowstorm caused Monday’s session to end early. Meanwhile, some members of the House of Representatives plan to attend events around the one-year anniversary of the January 6 uprising.
