WASHINGTON (AP) — A senior Republican lawmaker has apologized for using an expletive when Democratic Rep. Joyce Beatty of Columbus asked him to put his mask on while in the Capitol.
Beatty says Rep. Hal Rogers of Kentucky used a vulgar phrase during an altercation on the way to vote Tuesday.
Beatty says Rogers, who has served in Congress since 1981, poked her in her back before using the expletive.
Rogers says in a statement that he met with Beatty to apologize and that his words “were not acceptable.”
Beatty says she has accepted the apology, while adding that she “will never tolerate bullying.”
Hospitalizations drop
Hospitalizations fueled by the highly contagious omicron variant in the U.S. have begun falling after peaking at record levels in some communities.
Across the U.S., the number of people in the hospital with COVID-19 has tumbled more than 28% over the past three weeks to about 105,000 on average.
According to the Ohio Hospital Association, fewer than 3,000 patients were being treated for COVID-19 in the state’s hospitals, the smallest number since late November.
But doctors are warning that the wave is leaving behind lots of postponed surgeries and an increasingly worn-out health care workforce in its wake.