Two US lawmakers have entered quarantine after meeting a man who was later diagnosed with the deadly coronavirus.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) announced they are going into isolation after learning that they interacted with a man infected with COVID-19 at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) nearly two weeks ago.
Cruz said in a statement he had “a brief conversion” and shook hands with the infected individual.
“I’m not experiencing any symptoms, and I feel fine and healthy. Given that the interaction was 10 days ago, that the average incubation period is 5-6 days, that the interaction was for less than a minute, and that I have no current symptoms, the medical authorities have advised me that the odds of transmission from the other individual to me were extremely low,” said Cruz.
Despite having no symptoms, Cruz said he was quarantining himself in his Texas home “until a full 14 days have passed since the CPAC interaction.”
Today I released the following statement: pic.twitter.com/XGXEa4ozcg
— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) March 8, 2020
Gosar also admitted to having sustained contact with the infected man. He and three of his senior staff are under self-quarantine.
“We are all asymptomatic and feel great. But we are being proactive and cautious,” Gosar explained.
The Arizona representative’s office will be closed this week.
President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence also attended the CPAC conference but organizers said neither of them were anywhere close to the man.
The virus has infected more than 100,000 people worldwide and killed over 3,400, the vast majority of them in China. Most cases are mild and most people infected with COVID-19 recover.
The US has tallied at least 539 cases across 34 states. The coronavirus has killed 22 people, most of whom were from Seattle’s Life Car Center nursing home, which is now under investigation by federal and state departments.
Washington state has the country’s largest concentration of cases, with at least 70. Meanwhile, Connecticut reported its first case.
Washington state, New York, California, and Oregon have declared emergencies and a number of schools across the nation are shutting down.
Trump signed an $8.3 billion measure to help public health agencies deal with the crisis and speed up the development of vaccines and treatments.
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