At least one attendee at last month’s 2020 Conservative Political Action Conference tested positive for the new coronavirus.
The American Conservative Union announced that one of the attendees to its annual conference, which attracted 19,000 people in 2019 and roughly the same amount this year, contracted the COVID-19 virus prior to the event in National Harbor, Maryland, thus exposing others to the disease.
“The American Conservative Union has learned that one of our CPAC attendees has unfortunately tested positive today for coronavirus. The exposure occurred previous to the conference. A New Jersey hospital tested the person, and CDC confirmed the positive result,” the ACU said in a statement Saturday. “The individual is under the care of medical professionals in the state of New Jersey, and has been quarantined. “
“This attendee had no interaction with the President or the Vice President and never attended the events in the main hall,” the statement added.
Important Health Notification for CPAC 2020 participants and attendees. pic.twitter.com/NtahNO8st3
— ACU (@ACUConservative) March 7, 2020
Several prominent members of the Trump administration attended the conference, including President Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, Secretary of Education Betsy Devos, and White House counselor Kellyanne Conway.
According to the ACU’s announcement, the Trump administration is monitoring the situation and is in open communication with proper government agencies.
Matt Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union, called for the public to remain calm in response, vowing to help “friends” in attendance recover if diagnosed.
“I hope that everybody stays calm. And if we have any of our friends, who test positive or get sick, we help them, and we’ll get through this together as a country,” Schlapp told RealClearNews.
White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said there is no indication Trump or Pence were in “close proximity” to the infected attendee.
“The President’s physician and United States Secret Service have been working closely with White House Staff and various agencies to ensure every precaution is taken to keep the First Family and the entire White House complex safe and healthy,” Grisham wrote in a statement. “People should continue to follow the CDC’s guidance on travel and public gatherings, which includes staying home if you feel ill, as well as frequently washing your hands with soap and water.”
Statement from @PressSec on the coronavirus case at CPAC last month, where Trump and many administration officials spoke: pic.twitter.com/sfYndQpIGN
— Seung Min Kim (@seungminkim) March 7, 2020
CPAC took place at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, which is just outside of Washington, D.C., from Feb. 26 to March 1.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser announced late Saturday afternoon the Public Health Lab at the D.C. Department of Forensic Sciences also discovered the city’s first “presumptive” coronavirus case.
Late this afternoon, testing at the Public Health Lab at the DC Department of Forensic Sciences yielded its first presumptive positive coronavirus (COVID-19) case. Join me live at 7:30 p.m. for a briefing at the John A. Wilson Building.
— Mayor Muriel Bowser (@MayorBowser) March 7, 2020
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan said the New Jersey Department of Health notified Maryland’s health agency, which recommended that people who attended the conference monitor themselves for symptoms, check their body temperature twice a day, and remain at home and notify a healthcare provider or local health department if their temperature rises above 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit or develop a respiratory illness.
“Immediately after learning of this individual’s interactions in our state, we began coordinating with the White House, the CDC and federal officials, the New Jersey Department of Health, Prince George’s County officials, and conference organizers,” Hogan said in a statement. “Due to the scale of this conference, we are urging attendees who are experiencing flu-like symptoms to immediately reach out to their healthcare provider. We are providing this update not to unnecessarily raise alarm, but in the interest of full transparency and out of an abundance of caution.”
There have been over 100,000 global cases of the COVID-19 virus, according to the World Health Organization, killing 3,405. In the United States thus far, there are hundreds of COVID-19 virus cases, and the death toll around the country rose to 19 on Saturday.
The outbreak of the novel coronavirus began in Wuhan, China. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports symptoms, including fever, cough, and shortness of breath, may appear two to 14 days after exposure.
Last week, Trump spoke to reporters at the White House on Wednesday, announcing the appointment of Pence as the head of the White House’s task force to handle the virus outbreak. “He has got a certain talent for this,” Trump said of Pence.
Democrats in Congress and the 2020 Democratic primary race have criticized Trump’s response to COVID-19, a highly infectious disease that has spread to countries around the world, including the United States. The president, in turn, has accused Democrats of “politicizing the coronavirus.”
