Republicans Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and Representative Paul Gosar of Arizona announced that they will self-quarantine after briefly meeting an individual who tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
They met the individual at the recent Conservative Political Action Conference, and made a separate announcement about their decision to self-quarantine.
Both Cruz and Gosar do not display any symptoms related to the pandemic, but chose to take the step out of caution.
According to Cruz, he will remain in Texas for a full 14 days after the interaction, and said that his interaction is merely a “brief conversation and a handshake.”
In a statement, he said, “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 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.”
Meanwhile, Gosar, will remain at home in Arizona for 14 days, and his office would be closed for the week.
He said in his statement the he, along with three members of his staff, was with the infected individual “for an extended period of time, and we shook hands several times.”
“We are all asymptomatic and feel great,” Gosar continued. “But we are being proactive and cautious.”
The American Conservative Union previously announced that one of the CPAC attendees tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
While President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and other administration officials attended the conference, they were not exposed to the said attendee.
White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said in an interview that the President is not worried about the possibility of being exposed at the conference.
“Again, this is something that is like a flu. And so people are taking the appropriate precautions. The President of the United States as we all know is quite a hand washer. He uses hand sanitizer all the time. He is not concerned about this at all.”