Two Massachusetts House employees who were last in the State House on Dec. 22 have tested positive for COVID-19, leading the House to issue a reminder that it has an arrangement for representatives and staffers who work in the building to secure testing appointments.
Keith Johnson, the House’s director of employee engagement, said in an email that all close contacts of the two House employees who have tested positive have been notified and urged all representatives and employees “to continue to practice consistent social distancing and to be attuned to the self-care and precautionary measures recommended by the CDC.”
“Lastly, please be reminded that we have an ongoing partnership with the Cambridge Innovation Center to provide testing to those Members, Officers and staff who have been physically in the State House,” Johnson wrote in the email shared by House Speaker Ron Mariano’s office. “The testing will be administered by the CIC in accordance with all state and federal regulations governing confidential health information. You can schedule an appointment for testing at any CIC site…”
The House moved into the next phase of its return-to-work strategy this month when all House officers and staff were to be “available and able to work in person at the State House as a condition of their employment” by Dec. 13.
In-person work at the State House during the latest phase would include House sessions, “critical legislative work” and training required by House rules, the working group’s policy indicated.
The House in September approved a vaccine mandate, opposed by nearly all of the chamber’s Republicans, that requires any representative or House employee to submit an attestation or exemption request to work in-person at the State House.
Though members and some staffers are allowed to return to work in the State House, the building has remained wholly closed to the public since the start of the pandemic nearly two years ago.
“Speaker Mariano and the Working Group are continuing to explore ways to safely reopen the State House. We look forward to sharing additional information in the future,” Johnson wrote in the email Tuesday.
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