Congress is in the midst of its longest stretch without a publicly confirmed positive COVID-19 test

Congress has gone nearly 80 days without a member announcing a positive coronavirus test, having crossed the 75-day threshold on Wednesday, The Washington Post reports.

There were a fair number of cases in the Capitol in the fall and early winter when the U.S. as a whole was experiencing a significant surge, but Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) was the last lawmaker to reveal he had contracted the virus on Jan. 29. That's the longest stretch without a publicly confirmed infection in the House or Senate since the pandemic began, the Post notes.

While it's too early to jump to conclusions and declare that Congress has reached herd immunity, the decline has coincided with COVID-19 vaccines becoming widely available to lawmakers in recent months, which suggests the shots are doing their job, as some targeted studies have found to be the case in other workplace environments, like hospitals. Read more at The Washington Post.

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