After a two-year pause for pandemic, the Capitol in Washington will get its first visitors (unless you count the January 6 rioters) on Monday, with a very limited schedule at first.
In the first phase, groups will be limited to 15 pre-registered guests, and each tour will be led by either a member of Congress or one of their staff members. Tours with professional guides will start later. Each member will be limited to one tour a week, but that’s potentially 538 tours or just over 8,000 visitors.
Masks will be optional for the tours, as will a health screening form, which is ‘recommended’ in the joint announcement from the House Sergeant at Arms and the Capitol’s attending physician, who will be monitoring the tours with an eye to changing rules if needed, especially if a new surge in Covid is noted.
In pre-pandemic days, the Capitol usually drew over three million visitors a year. Tours of the White House, also off-limits for the past two years, will resume in April.
