At least four House Democrats, in quick succession, said they tested positive for the coronavirus after a street party held last week in Philadelphia.
Representative Madeleine Dean from Pennsylvania announced her positive result on Monday; Representatives Zoe Lofgren from California as well as Kim Schreer from Washington announced on Sunday and Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut on Saturday.
All four representatives said they had been vaccinated and boostered and had only mild symptoms. All four attended the Democratic House of Representatives retreat in Philadelphia last week, according to one attendee. It was not clear, and it was difficult to know whether they were infected at the meeting or somewhere else.
Another House Democrat, Northern Virginia Representative Jerry Connolly, who said he tested positive for the virus on Fridaydid not attend the retreat, said the person who attended.
The retreat was the first major face-to-face caucus event in three years. It was meant to be something of a reset for the party ahead of what is expected to be a difficult midterm season. Much of the party’s legislative agenda has been hampered by divisions between moderates and progressives, complicated by the Democrats’ weak grip on the Senate.
On Wednesday, Democrats in the House of Representatives had to cut $15.6 billion in planned funding for President Biden’s pandemic response efforts to secure passage of a basic spending bill.
The House of Representatives passed the measure with a total spending of $1.5 trillion late Wednesday night. Remote voting was allowed, so it was not clear which members were physically present when voting took place. Many Democrats then went on retreat to Philadelphia.
Mr. Biden personally addressed the gathering on Friday. Asked at a White House press conference on Monday why he was wearing a mask when entering an event earlier in the day, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Mr. Biden sometimes does so if the rules of the event require it. but what will she check. She added that on Sunday, the president received a negative test result for the virus.
White House spokesman Kevin Munoz said none of the representatives present at the retreat were considered close contacts of the president and that nothing had changed in his testing pace.
All members of Congress who were scheduled to attend, as well as their staff and families, were required to take PCR or rapid antigen tests prior to the event, in accordance with protocols provided by the meeting’s Director of Public Affairs. Participants were also required to take rapid tests in their hotel rooms on Thursday and Friday mornings, but masks were not required. The mask mandate for the floor of the House of Representatives at the Capitol Building was lifted in late February, shortly before Mr. Biden’s State of the Union address.
Senator Jeanne Shaheen, Democrat of New Hampshire, also said Sunday she tested positive.
In total, at least 100 members of Congress have announced they have tested positive for the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic, according to a tally by Ballotpedia, a non-partisan election information site.