STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Rep. Nicole Malliotakis joined fellow Republicans Thursday criticizing a coronavirus (COVID-19) mask mandate put in place for the House of Representatives members and their staff, including the fully vaccinated.
“Our Washington staff is fully vaccinated,” she said. “Speaker (Nancy) Pelosi’s mandate directing Capitol Police to arrest visitors and staff who don’t comply is an inappropriate government overreach and only diminishes confidence in a vaccine that we were told was safe and effective against the spread of COVID-19 and its variants.”
Natalie Baldassare, a spokeswoman for Malliotakis (R-Staten Island/South Brooklyn), said the congresswoman, who is vaccinated, would comply with the mask mandate on the chamber’s floor, because she didn’t want to incur a $500 fine Pelosi (D-Calif.) put in place, but would let vaccinated staffers make up their own minds.
However, Malliotakis would not be complying in the rest of the Capitol complex, Baldassare said.
The congresswoman went a step further in her criticism on social media saying on Twitter that the speaker had “lost her marbles” in relation to the order to arrest visitors and staff who refused to leave the Capitol when not wearing a mask.
The arrest comments come from a Capitol Police memo ordering such action. Among others, the memo was shared by Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Fl.) on social media.
Pelosi pointed to the Capitol physician as the mandate was put back in place Tuesday following guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that recommended indoor mask-wearing for even the fully-vaccinated.
“That’s the decision from the Capitol physician, a mandate from him,” Pelosi told reporters. “I have nothing to say about that, except we honor it.”
The White House has put a similar mandate in place, but the Senate, which is also in the Capitol, has yet to do so, only recommending mask wearing at present.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) took less than a day to criticize the mandate saying that he saw Pelosi without a mask twice in violation of the reinstated rule. Pelosi fired back by calling him a “moron.”
During a Thursday briefing with Dr. Anthony Fauci and CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, Malliotakis asked the medical experts to better explain why the vaccinated should continue to wear masks if vaccination is the key to fighting the virus.
“It’s frustrating for my constituents to follow the guidance from the CDC because it’s changing constantly – wear a mask, don’t wear a mask, wear two masks, don’t wear a mask if you’re vaccinated,” she said.
“I really urge you to streamline these directions because people are getting confused and they don’t know what to do anymore.”