The U.S. Capitol does not have the capacity to proactively test each senator like the White House has been doing for President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.
The White House has been routinely testing the president, vice president, and those who meet with them using rapid-response coronavirus test kits. According to a report from Politico, the attending physician for Congress said the U.S. Capitol only has the capacity to test senators who present symptoms.
Dr. Brian Monahan said his team cannot routinely test senators or their staff unless they are ill. Those who do present symptoms only have access to standard tests that take up to two days to yield a result because they do not have a supply of rapid-response tests.
Pence cited his access to rapid-response testing as the reason he did not wear a face mask while meeting with members of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, earlier this week.
The Senate is set to return to Washington, D.C., on Monday. More than half of the 100 senators are older than 65, which is considered a high-risk age group by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Office of Attending Physician advised the senators to cover their faces, remain in their seats during meetings, and maintain social distancing as much as possible. Part of that effort included a recommendation that members attend meetings by themselves or limit each senator to one staff member each.
Democratic Washington Sen. Patty Murray said she doesn’t feel confident that she or her staff will be safe returning to the Capitol.
“I have not yet seen, personally … a safety plan to protect those people who have to come back to the Capitol in order for us to do anything. Nor a plan to make sure that we are not spreading the virus ourselves or to the employees,” Murray said.
House Democrats canceled their planned return to Washington, D.C., earlier this week. They were slated to return on May 4, but have postponed the session after speaking with Monahan and reviewing guidance from elected officials in Washington, D.C.
On Wednesday, the district’s Health Department director, Dr. LaQuandra Nesbitt, said that Mayor Muriel Bowser may not lift the city’s stay-at-home order until August.
