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Face masks are again required in the House of Representatives for all lawmakers, staff and reporters - including those fully vaccinated - the Office of the Attending Physician announced in the wake of new CDC guidelines.

'To be clear, for meetings in an enclosed US House of Representatives controlled space, masks are REQUIRED,' Dr. Brian Monahan wrote in a memo sent to staff late Tuesday night that was obtained by DailyMail.com. 

Speaker Nancy Pelosi will require face masks at her weekly press conference on Wednesday afternoon. Earlier this year, face masks were required for everyone in the Capitol but that rule was relaxed in June, allowing the fully vaccinated to go mask free.

But in the past few days more lawmakers and staff had been wearing masks in the wake of news that one of Pelosi's staff, along with other congressional aides, had tested positive for COVID.  

Monahan argued that with lawmakers traveling from all parts of the country - including those with high infection rates - face masks make sense.  

'For the Congress, representing a collection of individuals traveling weekly from various risk areas (both high and low rates of disease transmission), all individuals should wear a well-fitted, medical-grade filtration mask (for example an ear loop surgical mask or a KN95 mask) when they are in an interior space,' he wrote. 

Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer have worn face masks around the Capitol recently amid cases of 'breakthrough' COVID

Cases in the U.S. have increased by 376% in the past month, largely because of the Delta variant 

Pelosi defended the new guidelines.

'We honor that,' she said of Monahan's decision, noting it was his call. 

Monahan reminded people face masks are required on the floor of the House - with lawmakers and staff subject to fines if they don't wear one - although a lawmaker may remove the mask to speak. 

He urged anyone not vaccinated to do so, pointing out that the staffers and lawmakers who had 'breakthrough' COVID cases - testing positive despite being vaccinated - had 'no or minimal symptoms.'

Speaker Nancy Pelosi defended the new face mask guidelines

'All these recent individuals who acquired the 'breakthrough' infection had no or minimal symptoms. There were no severe cases, attesting to the protective value of the vaccination,' Monahan wrote. 

The Pfizer vaccine is offered to lawmakers and staff via his office. 

Monahan said there was a 'very high degree of complete vaccination' on Capitol Hill although he did not supply exact numbers. 

All Democrats in the House have confirmed they are vaccinated. But nearly half of House Republicans still won't reveal their vaccination status.

Some Republicans have criticized the mask rule and pointed to contradictory advice from health officials, who early on said masks weren't necessary for general public, only to later advocate for them, saying their understanding of how the coronavirus was transmitted had evolved. 

Three Republican lawmakers - Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Thomas Massie of Kentucky, and Ralph Norman of South Carolina - are suing Pelosi for an earlier face mask requirement.  The three were each fined $500 for ignoring the rule requiring masks on the House floor and the money was taken from their paychecks.

None of them wear face masks. Massie has said he thinks he had COVID because he tested positive for antibodies last year. Norman is fully vaccinated, according to his office. Greene has said many times that it is no one's business as to whether or not she is vaccinated.

Some Republican lawmakers - like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (above) - have refused to wear face masks and faced fines

More lawmakers and staff are wearing face masks in the Capitol - above Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her deputy chief of staff Drew Hammill wear face masks

Vice President Kamala Harris and Native American community leaders masked up for their meeting in the Vice President's Ceremonial Office at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House complex after the CDC issued new guidance on face coverings

The memo from the Office of the Attending Physician came in the wake of new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which urged fully vaccinated individuals 'wear a mask in public indoor settings if they are in an area of substantial or high transmission.' 

It said that 63.4 percent of counties now had levels high enough to warrant indoor masking. 

Washington D.C. is rated as one of those areas, where the rate is 52 cases per 100,000. The White House also is requiring staff to wear masks again as the Delta variant is causing COVID case numbers to spike. 

The CDC said Americans should resume wearing masks in areas where there are more than 50 new infections per 100,000 residents over the previous seven days.

Over the past month, the average new daily cases across the country have increased by 376 percent, from 11,887 on June 26 to 56,635 on July 26.

'This is not a decision CDC has made lightly...this is something that weighs heavily on me and all of America,' said Rochelle Walensky, director of the CDC, at a news conference Tuesday.

She also warned that with unmitigated spread, it could only take a few mutations for the virus to be able to bypass the vaccines entirely. 

Currently, around 56 percent of Americans have received at least one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine, and half of the country is fully vaccinated.

That means that more than 40 percent of Americans, and 30 percent of adults, are not vaccinated at all.

At the White House on Tuesday afternoon, reporters heading into an event with Vice President Kamala Harris were told face masks were required. Administration officials supplied masks to those who didn't have them.

Harris donned a mask for the event - a meeting with Native American community leaders - and acknowledged the unhappiness about the new guidance while pleading with people to get their shot.

'None of us like wearing masks,' she said. 

'People need to get vaccinated. People need to get vaccinated,' she noted. 'It will save their life. This virus is no joke.' 

White House press secretary Jen Psaki has previously said President Joe Biden will follow all health guidelines and don a face mask where required.