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A minimum of 4 Home Democrats in fast succession have mentioned that they examined constructive for the coronavirus after a celebration retreat held final week in Philadelphia.
Consultant Madeleine Dean of Pennsylvania introduced her constructive end result on Monday; Representatives Zoe Lofgren of California and Kim Schrier of Washington introduced on Sunday, and Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut on Saturday.
All 4 representatives mentioned that they had been vaccinated and boosted, and had been experiencing solely gentle signs. All 4 attended the Home Democratic Caucus’s retreat in Philadelphia final week, based on an individual in attendance. It was not clear, and tough to know, whether or not they had been every uncovered and contaminated on the gathering, or elsewhere.
One other Home Democrat, Consultant Gerry Connolly of Northern Virginia, who mentioned he tested positive for the virus on Friday, was not current on the retreat, the particular person in attendance mentioned.
The retreat was the caucus’s first main in-person occasion in three years. It was meant to be one thing of a reset for the occasion heading into what is predicted to be a tough midterm election season. A lot of the occasion’s legislative agenda has been hobbled by dissension between moderates and progressives, sophisticated by the tenuousness of the Democrats’ maintain on the Senate.
On Wednesday, Home Democrats discovered themselves having to chop $15.6 billion in deliberate funding for President Biden’s pandemic response efforts to safe passage of a vital spending invoice.
The Home handed the measure, with $1.5 trillion in whole spending, late Wednesday evening. Distant voting was allowed, so it was unclear which members had been bodily current for the vote. Many Democrats then departed for the Philadelphia retreat.
Mr. Biden addressed the gathering in particular person on Friday. Requested at White Home information convention on Monday why he was masked when coming into an occasion earlier within the day, the press secretary, Jen Psaki, mentioned Mr. Biden generally does so if occasion tips require it, however that she would verify. She added that the president had acquired a destructive virus check end result on Sunday.
A White Home spokesman, Kevin Munoz, mentioned that not one of the representatives on the retreat had been thought of shut contacts of the president, and that nothing had modified about his testing cadence.
All members of Congress who had been to attend the gathering, in addition to their employees members and households, had been required to submit P.C.R. or fast antigen exams earlier than the occasion, based on protocols shared by the communications director for the caucus. Attendees had been additionally required to take fast exams of their lodge rooms on Thursday and Friday mornings, however masks weren’t required. The masks mandate for the Home ground on the Capitol constructing was dropped in late February, shortly earlier than Mr. Biden’s State of the Union handle.
Senator Jeanne Shaheen, Democrat of New Hampshire, additionally mentioned on Sunday that she had examined constructive. She didn’t attend the Home Democrats’ retreat.
In all, at the very least 100 members of Congress have introduced testing constructive for the coronavirus because the pandemic started, based on a tally by Ballotpedia, a nonpartisan election data web site.
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