Washington (CNN) Members of Congress who are working to mitigate the spread of coronavirus around the country are as susceptible as anyone to catching the disease. So despite Republican opposition, some Senate Democrats are calling for unprecedented measures like voting away from the chamber floor and conducting committee hearings via Skype.

"It's time for the Senate to wake up to the 21st century and make sure we're using technology that allows us to communicate with each other without any danger or risk to public health," Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the Democratic whip, said on Tuesday morning. "Let us do it in the context that we are preaching to America."

But in a news conference on Tuesday afternoon, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell essentially killed any notion of the Senate voting from home. "We'll not be doing that," the Kentucky Republican said. He added that there are a number of ways "to avoid getting too many people together," including lengthening the time for a roll call vote.

"We will deal with the social distancing issue without fundamentally changing the Senate rules," said McConnell.

Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri, the top Republican on the Rules Committee, said there is "no interest in changing the rules" among the Senate's leaders.

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