Capitol Physician Warns About ‘Dire Health Risk’ of Delta Variant, Says There Have Been ‘Several’ Breakthrough Cases on the Hill

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The Capitol Attending Physician said that there have been cases of the Delta variant on the Hill in a memo Tuesday.

In the past day, there’s been news that a White House official and a senior spokesperson for Speaker Nancy Pelosi tested positive for covid-19. Both have been vaccinated. As a White House official told Axios, “We know that there will be breakthrough cases, but as this instance shows, cases in vaccinated individuals are typically mild.”

Brian Monahan, the Attending Physician for the U.S. Congress, said Tuesday there have been some breakthrough cases with “several vaccinated Congressional staff members and 1 Member of Congress.”

He said in his memo that the Delta variant “has been detected in Washington, DC and in the Capitol buildings” and warned, “It represents a dire health risk to unvaccinated individuals.”

Mask guidance on Capitol Hill is not changing right now, but Monahan says vaccinated people should consider “additional protective actions such as wearing a well-fitted, medical-grade filtration mask when they are in a crowded or interior location.”

“Individuals have the personal discretion to wear a mask and future developments in the coronavirus Delta variant local threat may require the resumption of mask wear for all as now seen in several counties in the United States.”

The letter is out — Attending Physician Brian P. Monahan says “several vaccinated Congressional staff members and 1 Member of Congress have acquired infection in this circumstance” https://t.co/y16urcwrZ0 pic.twitter.com/FlKBnQJLpX

— Alayna Treene (@alaynatreene) July 20, 2021

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