mike lee covid mask
Sen. Mike Lee speaks without a mask at Monday's opening hearing for President Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Amy Coney Barrett.
ALEX EDELMAN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
  • Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah drew suspicion and ire on Monday when he spoke maskless at the first Senate Judiciary Committee hearing for President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett.
  • Lee tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday, October 2, with his case being one of many linked to an apparent superspreader event at the White House Rose Garden for Barrett about a week earlier.
  • The senator would not tell reporters if he tested negative for the virus before showing up to the hearing room, but he did tweet a letter from his doctor that “cleared” him for an in-person cameo.
  • “Senator Lee’s enthusiasm for the dormant commerce clause convinces me you’ve made a full recovery,” Sen. Lindsey Graham said after his Republican colleague spoke without a mask.
  • Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, spoke without a mask at the first confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett, 10 days after testing positive for coronavirus.

Lee’s case was one of many linked to Barrett’s nomination ceremony at the White House Rose Garden on Sept. 26, which appears to check all the boxes for a superspreader event.

On Monday, the senator declined to tell reporters if he tested negative for the virus, but tweeted a letter from his doctor declaring him “cleared” to attend the hearing in person despite the ability to make statements and ask questions remotely.

In the letter Lee posted, Dr. Brian Monahan, the attending physician of the Congress, ruled out testing as a factor for the senator’s return to Capitol Hill.

“Based upon current CDC guidelines, you have met criteria to end COVID-19 isolation for those with mild to moderate disease,” Monahan wrote to Lee. “Specifically, it has been greater than 10 days since symptom onset, you have had no fever in absence of fever reducing medication for at least 24 hours, and your other symptoms have improved. The CDC does not recommend repeat SARS-CoV-2 PCR testing if these criteria are met.”

This was echoed by Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security.

"We don't test people to say they're non-infectious," Adalja told Business Insider. "We wait 10 days and say: Are they better? Have their symptoms decreased? Are they not having a fever for the last three days and not taking Tylenol or ibuprofen? And then we release them."

Lee's lack of transparency over whether he's contagious and still testing positive for the virus drew concerns online.

But Senate Judiciary Chairman Sen. Lindsey Graham made light of Lee's coronavirus diagnosis at the conclusion of his opening remarks.

"Well definitely some good news," said the Republican senator from South Carolina. "Senator Lee's enthusiasm for the dormant commerce clause convinces me you've made a full recovery."

Morgan McFall-Johnsen contributed to this report.

Read the original article on Business Insider