State of the Union attendance required a COVID test. 5 legislators tested positive – NPR

Thanks! Share it with your friends!

Close

(L-R) Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA), Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-CA), Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-WA), Rep. Ted Deutch (D-FL)

Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images; Alex Wong/Getty Images; Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images; Karen Ducey/Getty Images; Samuel Corum/Getty Images


hide caption

toggle caption

Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images; Alex Wong/Getty Images; Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images; Karen Ducey/Getty Images; Samuel Corum/Getty Images

(L-R) Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA), Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-CA), Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-WA), Rep. Ted Deutch (D-FL)

Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images; Alex Wong/Getty Images; Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images; Karen Ducey/Getty Images; Samuel Corum/Getty Images

At least five legislators announced Tuesday that they had tested positive for COVID-19 ahead of tonight’s State of the Union address.

To attend tonight’s speech, guests — even those who are fully vaccinated — are required to produce a negative test.

California’s Sen. Alex Padilla and Rep. Pete Aguilar, Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, Rep. Suzan DelBene of Washington and Rep. Ted Deutch of Florida — all Democrats — announced by statements or tweets Tuesday that they had tested positive.

Rep. Lauren Underwood of Illinois said Friday that she had tested positive.

Typically, a State of the Union address is attended by 1,500 people or more. Members of Congress and other political dignitaries bring guests and family members. But last year, only 200 people attended Biden’s joint address to Congress in April, just as COVID-19 vaccines had started to become widely accessible to most American adults.

This year, all 535 members of Congress were invited to attend tonight’s speech, a decision made with the guidance of Brian P. Monahan, the Capitol’s attending physician. Many Republicans have decided to skip the event. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said he would not attend because he objected to the requirement that all those present would need to take a COVID-19 test.

Attendees will not be required to wear masks tonight — a change to Monahan’s guidance made in the wake of falling COVID-19 levels in the D.C. area. The White House also recently changed its mask policy, allowing fully vaccinated staff members to go maskless.

Source Article from https://www.npr.org/2022/03/01/1083845000/state-of-the-union-covid

Comments

Write a comment