Sen. Ted Cruz announced on Sunday that he would self-quarantine for 14 days because he interacted with the person who tested positive for coronavirus at the recent Conservative Political Action Conference.

In a statement released on Twitter, the Texas Republican wrote that he was informed of the interaction on Saturday night, and that he had engaged in a brief conversation and handshake with the affected individual.


He said he had consulted with several medical authorities — some at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Health and Human Services — as well as Vice President Mike Pence, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and the newly minted White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows.

“I’m not experiencing any symptoms, and I feel fine and healthy,” Cruz said in the statement. “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.”

He added that physicians advised him that the interaction did not meet the CDC criteria for self-quarantine. However, “out of an abundance of caution” for his constituents, Cruz said, he will remain in his Texas home for a full 14 days.

Cruz has been one of several coronavirus "hawks" in the Senate. He called for a China travel ban in January, has consistently raised questions about U.S. preparedness and held a subcommittee hearing just four days ago on how global travel could fuel the spread of the virus.

President Donald Trump and Pence attended the CPAC conference at Maryland‘s National Harbor. So did several administration and cabinet officials, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, HHS Secretary Alex Azar, Meadows and two of the president’s children, Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr.


Matt Schlapp, head of the American Conservative Union, which puts on CPAC, said Sunday that neither the president nor vice president had contact with the affected individual. Schlapp, who did have incidental contact with the person, said he felt “healthy as a horse.“

“Anybody I know that might have had contact with the patient, if I can verify it, believe me, I have called that person,” he said on Fox News. “Just in abundance of caution, which I think is the right thing to do, to be transparent as we possibly can. I want to reiterate, nobody who was at the conference should panic about what happened. We‘re going to take all the necessary steps.“

On Sunday evening, CPAC organizers sent out a health warning update stating that they were continuing to work closely with the Maryland Department of Health. The department has screened thousands of employees from the Gaylord National Resort and Conference Center and the Residence Inn.

“We continue to remain in close contact with the infected individual and he continues to be doing better,” the update said. “Also, at this point, no other CPAC attendee, participant or staff has tested positive for coronavirus.”

Dan Diamond contributed to this report.