More than 100 National Guard troops stationed at the Capitol for the inauguration have tested positive for COVID-19 and hundreds more are in quarantine, according to media reports Friday.
Defense officials and others are pointing to the cramped rest and working areas as the reason for the spread, according to the reports.
Roughly 26,000 Guard members from all 50 states flooded into Washington after the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and stayed through the Jan. 20 inauguration.
Since their arrival images have surfaced on social media of Guardsmen working close together or not wearing masks. On Thursday evening, photos of Guardsmen taking breaks in a cold cramped parking garage instead of inside the Capitol outraged members of both parties.
Defense officials told the Wall Street Journal that every Guardsmen deployed to Washington was screened for COVID-19, but not all were tested.
A member of the Guard told Politico the tests for the troops never arrived.
“We did not get COVID tests on arrival,” one guard member told Politico. “Right after the holidays they packed us together like sardines in buses and rooms for this.”
A spokesperson for the Senate Rules Committee told The Washington Times that it is investigating the COVID protocols, including relocating the troops to the garage.
Lawmakers fumed after learning the Guardsmen were forced to rest in the cramped parking garage. Some governors immediately ordered their troops to return home.
On Friday afternoon, the National Guard said it was partnering with Capitol Police to make sure troops are in “appropriate spaces.”
More than 7,000 troops remained in Washington as of Friday morning.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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