Ted Cruz is the first person in Congress to take the big step of self-quarantining after he says he recently came into contact with someone who now has coronavirus.
The Texas senator made the announcement Sunday, saying out of an abundance of caution ... he's gonna get outta D.C. for the week and sit it out at home. The reason ... Cruz says he had a brief convo and a handshake with the one guy at CPAC who's contracted COVID-19.
Today I released the following statement: pic.twitter.com/XGXEa4ozcg
— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) March 8, 2020
He writes, "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 ... were extremely low."
Cruz goes on to say he's consulted with the best in the health biz on this one -- including Veep Mike Pence, who's heading up the U.S.'s coronavirus effort -- and they gave him the greenlght.
Here's the Schlapp-Trump handshake at CPAC pic.twitter.com/lBwkhmSVAB
— Jamie Dupree (@jamiedupree) March 8, 2020
What's possibly even more concerning about this move ... the implications for other bigwigs in Washington -- many of whom were at CPAC -- and maybe even POTUS himself.
CPAC's chairman, Matt Schlapp, says he too had interacted with the COVID-19 patient at one point during the event. Schlapp also shook hands with Trump on the final day of the conference -- it's unclear which happened first, though. The exact nature of the corona contact is also vague.
Not to worry ... Schlapp assured 'Fox & Friends' that the Prez was constantly scrubbing his hands and making good use of the hand sanitizer that was all around. Count us in as ... reassured??? 😬