House Republicans are continuing to make headlines for downplaying COVID-19 even as Republican officials continue to contract the virus.
Since the pandemic began, Congressional Republicans and their candidates have discouraged mask use, downplayed the severity of the virus, and encouraged the QAnon conspiracy movement which lies about the deadliness of COVID-19. Vulnerable Republicans Jeff Van Drew, Chip Roy and Dan Crenshaw have been some of the worst offenders.
House Republicans failure to take this virus seriously is putting lives at risk.
Below are a just a few of the recent examples:
TX-10: Endangered millionaire Congressman Mike McCaul refused to wear a mask on commercial fight – despite flight attendants asking him to put one on multiple times.
MN-ALL: Three Minnesota Republicans – including NRCC Chairman Tom Emmer – violated airline rules and took a commercial flight after sustained close contact with a COVID-19 positive individual.
Star Tribune: Minnesota Republicans fly Delta home from D.C. after COVID-19 exposure
Minnesota’s three Republican congressmen flew home on a Delta flight from Washington, D.C., Friday night, despite airline restrictions on passengers recently exposed to COVID-19-positive people such as President Donald Trump.
U.S. Reps. Pete Stauber, Tom Emmer and Jim Hagedorn all tested negative for COVID-19 on Friday after traveling with Trump on Air Force One to and from a Duluth rally on Wednesday.
The president and first lady tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday.
Delta policy states that the airline will not allow anyone knowingly exposed to COVID-19 in the past 14 days to travel. Health experts advise a 14-day quarantine after close exposure to someone with COVID-19 even if an initial test proves negative.
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But a 30-year-old passenger from Washington, D.C., who asked that his name not be used said Saturday that there was no such conversation and that he and his fiancée were given no option to leave the plane, which he said they would have done had they had that choice.
He also expressed distress that food and drink service continued during the flight, which means the congressmen would have removed their masks if they ate or drank.
CA-23: House Minority Leader McCarthy has resumed in person, indoor House Republican Conference meetings under pressure from members who refuse to wear masks.
Washington Post: Coronavirus moves freely in GOP circles as Republicans play loose with health rules
By mid-March, all four congressional caucuses disbanded their regular in-person meetings, in favor of conference calls.
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House Republicans, after disbanding their weekly in-person meetings, restarted them in late July with attendance limits in a spacious theater, following demands from arch conservatives, many of whom prefer not to wear masks. One of those, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Tex.), tested positive for the coronavirus a week later, just before he was supposed to travel with Trump.
Every Democrat who has been on the congressional campus the past five months regularly wears a mask, prompting fears that they are living by a different set of rules.
“This virus is punishing. It’s unforgiving, draws no distinction between Republicans and Democrats,” Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) said Friday.
Lately, however, inside the Capitol, it has drawn a distinction.
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