Gatherings at the White House are being limited to under 30 people due to the surge of the omicron variant, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Tuesday, The Hill reported.
Psaki told reporters that the policy has been put in place “over the last several weeks” and will continue "for this period of time," although this was the first time that the White House disclosed a policy change for larger gatherings during the omicron wave.
In addition, she said that other strict protocols meant to prevent the spread of coronavirus continue to be in place at the White House, such as testing anyone who is meant to come in close contact with either President Joe Biden or Vice President Kamala Harris.
Psaki added that a mask requirement for the West Wing is also strictly enforced at the White House, saying that “we already had very strict precautions in place long before omicron. We have continued those and of course we will continue to build on those.”
Other policy changes are happening on Capitol Hill, with Democrats restoring social distancing protocols for floor votes and encouraging congressmen to use either KN95 or N95 masks, which offer better protection than cloth ones.
Due to the surge in coronavirus cases, Biden has not held a large event at the White House in several weeks, according to The Hill.
In another precaution, the White House Correspondents' Association cut back capacity at the start of year in the White House briefing room to only 14 journalists.
A handful of Biden administration officials have reported testing positive for the virus since the inauguration, including Psaki and more recently Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
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