Senator Mitch McConnell still can't return to work six weeks after a fall left him briefly unconscious, and Kentucky is short one vote in the chamber that's supposed to represent it.

McConnell, 84, has missed 38 straight Senate floor votes since his June 14 hospitalization, narrowing the Republican majority to 52-47, according to the New York Post. His office released a photo and statement Monday — the first update in 15 days — but offered no timeline for his return. The same Washington press corps that hounded Dianne Feinstein and Ruth Bader Ginsburg to step aside over health concerns is content to respect McConnell's privacy while an entire state goes unrepresented in the chamber.

McConnell was hospitalized after a fall at his home that left him "briefly unconscious," according to a July 12 disclosure. He also dealt with what he called "a mild case of pneumonia." The Office of the Attending Physician said Monday that McConnell "is not yet medically cleared to leave the rehab facility and return to the office," citing his childhood polio as "a significant factor in his mobility."

"I'm still working hard to get back to my full schedule of work in the Senate and in Kentucky, keeping up with intense physical therapy per my doctors' orders," McConnell said in the statement. He'll miss Saturday's Fancy Farm picnic — the traditional kickoff to Kentucky's fall campaign season — as well as Tuesday's memorial service for his late colleague Senator Lindsey Graham.

The photo released Monday shows McConnell grinning alongside his wife, Elaine Chao, who served as Transportation Secretary before resigning after January 6. The image is meant to project vigor. Six weeks of missed votes tell a different story.

McConnell already announced he won't seek re-election, meaning he's a lame duck clinging to a seat he can't physically fill. Because the Senate doesn't allow proxy voting, his absence is a literal gap in representation. Every day he remains in rehab is a day Kentucky has one voice instead of two.

The Guardian noted the "weeks of silence" and "mounting speculation" about McConnell's condition before Monday's update. NBC News reported that no return timeline has been provided. Only the Post highlighted the practical consequence: McConnell's absence narrows the GOP majority by one.

McConnell said last year that "folks of my generation often hesitate to share the vulnerability that comes with growing older." Fair enough. But the people of Kentucky didn't elect a senator to rehab in private for six weeks while their votes go uncast. The question isn't whether McConnell deserves privacy — it's whether a seat in the United States Senate belongs to the officeholder or to the citizens he was sent there to represent.