CPAC Chair Had ‘Contact’ With Coronavirus Sufferer And Went On To Shake Trump’s Hand
Matt Schlapp, the chairman of the American Conservative Union, has revealed that he interacted with a 55-year-old man infected with coronavirus at CPAC before shaking hands with President Donald Trump.
Schlapp says he feels ‘healthy as a horse‘ after the ‘incidental contact‘ with the man who is now recovering in New Jersey following the event in Washington DC from February 27 to March 1.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) also released a statement admitting that he interacted with the infected man and has now placed himself into 14-day self-quarantine.
‘Last night, I was informed that 10 days ago at CPAC I briefly interacted with an individual who is currently symptomatic and has tested positive for COVID-19,‘ Cruz said in a statement Sunday. ‘That interaction consisted of a brief conversation and a handshake.‘
DailyMail report: On Sunday, Arizona Republican Paul Gosar joined Cruz by self-quarantining after “sustained contact” with the infected person at CPAC.
‘I am announcing that I, along with three of my senior staff, are officially under self-quarantine after sustained contact at CPAC with a person who has since been hospitalized with the Wuhan Virus.’
It comes as the US coronavirus death toll climbed to 22 with another patient dying in Washington state. Grant County Health District confirmed the death without giving further details.
Schlapp was seen interacting with the likes of Ivanka Trump, Lara Trump and Jared Kushner at the event last week where he also came into contact with the infected person.
‘I had incidental contact with him, very briefly… I feel healthy as a horse,’ Schlapp told Fox Sunday.
Schlapp said he had contacted anyone who may have had contact with the infected individual but said that person ‘had no contact with either the president or the vice president’.
‘I can tell you, when the president was on site at CPAC, he lives by what he tells us, because I saw him scrub down his hand and clean his hands more than once while he was on the premises, and I did the same,’ Schlapp said.
He added in a tweet Sunday night: ‘We did ask the patient the names of everyone he spent time with. Those who interacted with the attendee were informed. The good news is NO ONE has any symptoms.’
War Room podcast host Raheem Kassam said he was around the infected man and had been ‘flu-sick unwell for the past week’.
He claimed the infected man was around for most of the Thursday activities and noting that Gosar and Cruz were in the green room 1pm to 5pm that day, Kassam said the likes of Rep Louie Gohmert, KellyAnne Conway and Rep Matt Gaetz may be at risk.
Kassam said the infected person was around on the Friday too.
‘Everyone at the CPAC Shabbat dinner should be checked. The attendee was there,’ Kassam tweeted Sunday.
He alleged there could be a second infected person. Kassam said he and others were ‘apoplectic about how they have not been better informed of what happened’.
As of Sunday evening, 550 people in the US had tested positive for COVID-19 and 22 people had died. Globally 110,037 people have tested positive for coronavirus and and 3,825 people have died.
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