Following reports that the White House plans to hold an outdoor ceremonial swearing-in event for Amy Coney Barrett on Monday night, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser raised concerns about the safety of attending such gatherings during the pandemic.

When asked during a press briefing on Monday about her reaction to news of the event, Bowser posed a question to D.C. residents and voters: “What does it feel like to see people flaunt scientific evidence and common sense?”

Bowser added that “just because you’re invited someplace, it doesn’t mean you have to go,” noting that a number of people who attended the Sept. 26 event at the Rose Garden in Barrett’s honor tested positive for COVID-19.

In addition to President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump, the outbreak at the White House infected a number of high profile people in White House circles, including Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany and White House adviser Stephen Miller, non-public facing staff like housekeepers, and White House reporters. The nation’s top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci has called it a “superspreader event”

“I know that there were a number of people who attended that Rose Garden event who became sick who were quite embarrassed by their participation, who had to go back to their constituencies and communities and explain their behavior,” Bowser said. “And so we don’t want any folks, our residents, certainly from D.C. or in our surrounding region, to be in that situation.”

The administration’s handling of the outbreak prompted D.C.-area Democrats to issue a statement expressing concern at the “casual disregard for the health of our community, including constituents who work at the White House as staff, agents, or officers of the United States Secret Service, journalists of the White House Correspondents Association, and the general public.”

The president and first lady have since recovered, and on Sunday the White House held its annual Halloween event, where they hosted hundreds of costumed visitors. The White House also recently extended an invitation to Congress to tour the Rose Garden. But over the weekend news broke that at least five aides to Vice President Mike Pence have tested positive for COVID-19.

Bowser said Monday that before attending an event or going to a restaurant or someone’s house, people should consider how they would leave if they don’t feel comfortable.

“For all you know, you could be packed in a Rose Garden event with somebody sitting next to you hacking,” she said. “Ask yourself, if that’s happening, are going to get up and leave in the middle of the President’s remarks? If you’re not, you shouldn’t go.”

The mayor also fielded questions about the Trump campaign’s apparent plans to hold a party at the president’s D.C. hotel on election night. Bowser said she heard the news on Monday morning, and said, “We will be in touch with our licensee, which is the hotel.”

Unlike the White House, which is on federal property, the hotel is subject to D.C.’s health and safety regulations, including its 50-person maximum for mass gatherings.

Barrett’s is expected to be confirmed as a Supreme Court justice on Monday. White House chief of staff Mark Meadows told reporters on Monday that “if it goes off as planned right now,” the event would be held outdoors and said the White House would “do the best we can to encourage as much social distancing as possible.”

As COVID-19 cases surge across the country, Bowser emphasized the unpredictability of the virus on Monday. “You don’t know who’s going to get very sick from COVID. You don’t know that,” she said. “642 people have died here. So, you can believe that you can go to the White House and get COVID and nothing’s going to happen to you. Perhaps, or you could die from it.”