Ted Cruz to Self-Quarantine After CPAC Contact with Coronavirus Patient

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.

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.

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.