U.S. Capitol Police have announced that the staff and visitors to Congress would be arrested if they do not comply with the recent mask mandate in the House.
“If a visitor or staff member fails to wear a mask after a request is made to do so, the visitor or staff shall be denied entry to the House Office Buildings or House-side of the U.S. Capitol,” the announcement stated. “Any person who fails to either comply or leave the premises after being asked to do so would be subject to an arrest for Unlawful Entry.”
The announcement came after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) reintroduced the House’s indoor mask mandate earlier this week amid the surge of the highly contagious delta variant of the COVID-19.
The series of new announcements left House Republicans furious as they claimed that Pelosi was abusing her power as a Speaker.
“In today’s edition of Pelosi’s abuse of power, Capitol Police have been directed to arrest staff and visitors to comply with her mask mandate for vaccinated individuals. For Members, they advise not arresting but “reporting Members to SAA for their failure to comply,” Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Florida) tweeted.
The new mask rule was first recommended by Brian Monahan, the Capitol physician, in response to growing cases of delta variant of the COVID-19.
“All individuals should wear a well-fitted, medical-grade filtration mask (for example an earloop surgical mask or a KN95 mask) when they are in an interior space,” Monahan said. “For meetings in an enclosed US House of Representatives controlled space, masks are REQUIRED.”
