All House members and staff must now wear a face-covering “at all times” in the House Office Buildings in Washington, D.C., amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Directed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Sergeant at Arms Paul Irving and Attending Physician Dr. Brian Monahan wrote to all members of Congress on Wednesday, where they laid out the requirement of face coverings and a list of exemptions.
Among the exemptions include “actually eating, drinking, or legally smoking,” being “in an enclosed office that no one else is permitted to enter,” the inability “to wear a face cover due to a medical condition or disability,” “giving a speech or interview,” if a person is deaf or can’t hear well and needs to read lips, and if someone is in a swimming pool, among others exemptions.
The requirement to wear a face-covering is in effect “until a determination is made that such a requirement is no longer necessary.”
Pelosi also made the announcement on Wednesday on mask-wearing, saying if a lawmaker refuses to wear a mask on the House floor then the speaker has the authority to direct the sergeant-at-arms to remove the person. She called it a “serious breach of decorum” to not follow the mask policy. – READ MORE
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