Donald Trump has recently made a point to talk up the virtues of mask-wearing—months after he should have, of course—but it seems that many of his Republican allies haven’t gotten the message. After Congressman Louie Gohmert tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday, Capitol Hill staffers sounded off on the apparent public health nightmare that is working for Republican lawmakers. Responding to reporting on Gohmert’s diagnosis, an aide told Politico’s Jake Sherman that the far-right representative hadn’t just refused to don a mask himself—he’d also “berated” the staff he required to work in the office for wearing them, seeking to, in his words, “be an example to America on how to open up safely.”
Other Republican aides soon chimed in, revealing a reckless and dangerous Capitol Hill office culture among several GOP lawmakers. Several Republican staffers described being discouraged or ridiculed for wearing masks, even as the members of congress forced them to come into the office. “If you asked me to give you a breakdown of mask usage in member offices, it’s nearly universal in Democratic offices based on my random observations,” a tech staffer told Politico. “Within Republican offices, it’s probably under 50%.”
“Some GOP offices ask why you are wearing a mask, which puts our staff in an awkward position,” the staffer continued. “Do you say because of the pandemic and risk the office taking that as a political stand? Do you take it off to make them feel better?”
The notion of wearing protective face masks during a pandemic being a “political stand” at all is maddening. But it’s especially wild now, months into this once-in-a-century public health crisis, which has been dramatically escalating in the United States in recent weeks. Without a vaccine or proven treatment, masks have been shown to significantly reduce the risk of infection; in fact, as former Obama Medicare and Medicaid Services chief Andy Slavitt has pointed out, universal mask-wearing could help bring the coronavirus to heel in less than two months. But Trump and other Republicans dragged masks into the culture wars, framing mask mandates as an infringement on individual liberties. “I want people to have a certain freedom,” Trump told Fox News’ Chris Wallace earlier this month. Trump has since tried to pivot somewhat on the issue, with an unconvincing appeal to his supporters to cover their faces in public. But the idea that the pandemic is overblown and that wearing masks is wimpy seems to still have a strong hold on Republicans. “Our office has been required to be fully staffed since session resumed at the end of June (including an intern),” one GOP aide told Politico. “While mask use isn’t banned, it’s also not encouraged, and has been derided on several occasions by the [chief of staff] and the member.”
“It may be worth looking into how many Republican offices are also requiring all staff and interns to come in to work while taking no precautions,” an aide to a lawmaker who tested positive for COVID-19 told Sherman. “Ridiculing people for wearing masks is also not uncommon. I think you’d find a lot of offices in the anti-mask brigade are forcing staff to report to work even if they have legitimate concerns about their health. I’m sure you also [could] find some are having staff…travel to districts in high-risk areas and then not providing for quarantine afterwards.”
“There is a general fear,” the aide continued, “that saying anything critical of the current office policy—or lack of policy—will lead to retaliation.” Some staffers have apparently found workarounds—avoiding lawmakers in the elevator, claiming that they were told they had to mask up. But the failure by many lawmakers to adhere to basic safety protocols has reportedly left many on Capitol Hill frustrated by Nancy Pelosi, who had for months not issued a mandatory mask requirement. That changed Wednesday, after Gohmert’s diagnosis. “Members and staff will be required to wear masks in the halls of the House,” she said.