Mass. Republican official, hospitalized twice, thinks he got COVID-19 at White House Hannukah party

Tom Mountain tested positive for the coronavirus soon after attending the Dec. 9 event.

An official in the Massachusetts Republican State Committee believes he got COVID-19 at the White House Hanukkah party he attended earlier this month.

“No one can ever say for sure exactly where they got it, but I’ll say this: Before the party, I was in perfectly good health,” Tom Mountain, the vice chairman for MassGOP, told The Boston Globe this weekend. “Three days later, I was in the hospital with COVID, and it was all downhill from there.”

Mountain, who also heads the Newton Republican City Committee, said attendants had to wear masks to enter the Dec. 9 party but that “hardly anyone was wearing masks” when inside. He tested positive after returning to Massachusetts.

“I didn’t listen to the warnings of my own family, and now I’m paying the price,” he told the Globe. He said he’s been hospitalized at Brigham and Women’s twice for the virus this month and almost had to be put on a ventilator both times.

Mountain told WCVB that before getting the virus, he felt as though he was “invincible” and didn’t think he needed to wear a mask all the time. Since he got COVID, four people in his family, including his wife and son, have tested positive for the virus. He said he’s still recovering with moderate symptoms at his home.

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