The coronavirus pandemic is forcing members of Congress to avoid events with lots of people, including some of their most reliable voters — the elderly.
Nursing homes are a campaign trail staple. But the heightened vulnerability of the elderly to the coronavirus is forcing elected officials to change their plans.
“In Michigan, I bet I had 100 events scheduled. Almost every one of them in the last 24 hours has been canceled,” Rep. Debbie Dingle, a Michigan Democrat, told the Washington Examiner. “We’re not going [to nursing homes]. I canceled my three town halls next week. I canceled them. I canceled every one of them.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ordered long-term care facilities in his state to temporarily block visitors from entering to avoid threats posed by visitors who recently traveled internationally, were on cruise ships, or had contact with a person who has the virus.
According to Sen. Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat, during a briefing by the White House, members on both sides of the aisle will be spending time with their respective state nursing home associations and hospitals over the recess next week.
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“We’re going to be doing a lot to bring data back with us about, ‘Here’s what the needs are.’ But I think a lot of people are thinking about, ‘Okay, what is the size of this gathering? … A roundtable of 20 is fine, but I don’t know — do I want to do 100? Do I want to do 250?’” Kaine told the Washington Examiner. “So everybody is grappling with all sorts of events you would want to do and especially the size of the events that you want to do.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi noted in her weekly press conference that changes in behavior will have to be made in any type of large gathering as a result of the threat of the coronavirus.
“It is kind of shocking to see the challenges that we have and the decisions that have to be made about people coming together, whether it’s sports or the arts or just political gatherings or whatever it is,” said the California Democrat. “We have to think in a different way about that, whether it’s about personal hygiene or personal contact with other people. We have to be smart about how we do that.”
Sen. Gary Peters, a Michigan Democrat, said he has already made changes to his campaign events in light of the coronavirus threat, amid a tough reelection battle against Republican John James.
“We’re thinking all of that through — larger events. We’re not going be at larger events. The state [Democratic] convention was just canceled,” Peters told the Washington Examiner.
Sen. Jack Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat, also plans to keep his campaign events small.
“We’re very conscious of the guidance to minimize crowds, and don’t take any unnecessary exposures. We’re trying to do that,” he said.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, had not planned to minimize campaign events after he files for reelection on Monday, telling the Examiner that he intended to make an appearance at a 150-person meeting in addition to other events. Graham has since reversed these plans, announcing Thursday evening that he “has decided to self-quarantine awaiting the results of a coronavirus test” after he may have come into contact with an official from Brazil at Mar-a-Lago who tested positive for the virus.
