Harris Requires Senators, Guests Submit Negative COVID Tests to Attend Swearing-In Ceremony

Vice President Kamala Harris listens during a meeting in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 12, 2022. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

When the 118th Congress convenes on Jan. 3 and members are sworn in, Vice President Kamala Harris is requiring senators, their spouses, and guests older than 2 to provide a negative COVID-19 test before participating in a photo op.

Grisella Martinez, who’s Harris’s director of legislative affairs, wrote the vice president’s requirements to the Senate sergeant-at-arms, who distributed the message to Senate offices last week.