Republican leader from Massachusetts says he got COVID at White House Hanukkah party

A Republican party leader from Massachusetts said he had a severe case of COVID-19 after attending a White House Hanukkah party earlier this month.

Tom Mountain, vice chairman of the Massachusetts Republican State Committee, told WJAR that he attended a White House party on Dec. 9 and was photographed not wearing a mask. He was there to represent the Massachusetts Republican Jewish Committee and said he got sick three days later.

“Well, lets put it this way: when I went down to Washington, D.C. for the White House Hanukkah event, I was perfectly fine,” he told the station. “And three days later after that event, I was in the hospital at Brigham and Women’s ready to be put on a lifesaving ventilator.”

Mountain told The Boston Globe that people were required to wear masks in order to get into the event, which had a guest list of over 100 people, but there weren’t temperature checks “or other prevention protocols in place.” Once guests got inside, “hardly anyone was wearing masks,” he said.

Mountain said he took a coronavirus test in order to comply with Massachusetts’ testing laws and got a positive result on Dec. 11, according to the publication.

“I was deteriorating rapidly anyway,” Mountain said, adding that he had symptoms before the test and has been to the hospital twice in recent weeks since getting sick.

The Dec. 9 event was one of 25 White House indoor holiday parties scheduled this month despite warnings from public health officials about large gatherings, The Washington Post reported.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned that holiday gatherings with people who don’t live in your household can greatly increase the risk of spreading COVID-19.

“As cases, hospitalizations, and deaths continue to increase across the United States, the safest way to celebrate the winter holidays is to celebrate at home with people who live with you,” the CDC wrote.

The White House parties came after a Rose Garden event for then-Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett in September became a superspreader event, infecting President Donald Trump, First Lady Melania Trump and other members of Trump’s administration as well as guests.

Mountain said he’s recovering at his home in Newton after he was almost put on a ventilator, WCVB reported. He said that he thinks he infected four other family members, who are still recovering from the virus.

“I think that, like many people, I felt as though I was invincible and felt that it wouldn’t affect me and I don’t have to wear a mask the entire time,” he told the station.

This story was originally published December 29, 2020 at 1:02 PM with the headline "Republican leader from Massachusetts says he got COVID at White House Hanukkah party."