Despite renewed focus on Sen. Feinstein’s health, details of her condition are scarce

WASHINGTON — A handful of activists from the progressive group Indivisible hopped on Zoom this week to directly pose questions to Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s staff that are swirling in the U.S. Capitol and California political circles.

Will the Democratic senator, who was diagnosed with shingles in late February and has not been back to Washington since, return to the Senate, they asked, according to a participant on the call. If so, when? Is there a process to determine her timetable, or a plan if she cannot return?

The answers — or lack thereof — left them unsatisfied.

“They were lovely people, but they changed the subject,” said Patti Crane, who is a member of the Indivisible South Bay L.A. chapter and attended the meeting. “They didn’t answer our questions.”

For years, Feinstein has swatted down growing concerns about her health, assuring constituents largely through statements to the press that she is still able to serve. But with her prolonged absence from the Capitol this spring,