Today was my first day back to work since last Monday when I was informed my roommate had tested positive for COVID. Since I had been out of town and had only been back in town for ~12 hours when it was discovered I have been staying at a hotel room as he recovers. I have tested negative 3 separate times since last Monday and even my roommate has started to test negative himself.

Today though couldn't be a normal day in DC it appears. It all started with a suspicious package that required a bomb squad before we were given an all-clear. The phones continued to ring off the hook the entire time and being the only one to answer them I was dealing with five people calling in at one time multiple times today.... a huge issue as people were getting upset I was not answering and able to enter their info fast enough.

Then suddenly we got a notification of demonstrations taking place outside the Capitol complex and moving towards it. The news never covered it but for 3 hours I got email updates informing us about the streets around the complex being closed down and to avoid the area at all costs. Due to being so busy I was not able to get out of the building to go see what was exactly going on but around 2:30/3:00 Eastern Time the demonstrations ended and we were given the all-clear and ability to leave along 3rd street. 

With gun control legislation on the docket to vote today that is all, I can assume the protests were against. From what I was able to find out nothing got out of control and they really just ran themselves out. It was still the first time since Jan 6th one has taken place and I would be lying to say I was not a little anxious about what was going on. Luckily nothing seemed to have occurred and the votes I believe all went through without any issues whatsoever. It is still tense in DC the memories of what happened are fresh in all staffer's minds. At the end of the day, we are all just doing a job and trying our best and it is extremely scary that some people just cannot see that.