CPAC chair had brief contact with coronavirus patient at conference, says he's not alarmed
Conservative Political Action Committee Chair Matt Schlapp says nobody who attended the conference should panic on 'Fox & Friends.'
The chairman of the Conservative Political Action Conference had brief contact with an attendee at the event who has since tested positive for coronavirus, but he said Sunday that nobody else so far has contracted the virus, including himself.
Matt Schlapp said on “Fox & Friends Weekend” that he called everyone he knows who might have had contact with the patient out of an "abundance of caution.”
“Nobody who was at the conference should panic about what happened,” he said. “We're going to take all the necessary steps.”
The American Conservative Union, which hosts the high-profile CPAC, confirmed Saturday that one of this year's attendees tested positive for the virus and is now being quarantined. The conference was held Feb. 26-29 at Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in Fort Washington, Md.
The person was tested in New Jersey and the positive result was confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the ACU said.
“We're obviously concerned about the patient,” said Schlapp, who spoke with the attendee over the phone Saturday night. “This patient's feeling better. I believe [he] is on the mend, so that's good news.”
Schlapp said that during the conference he had “incidental contact with him, very briefly.”
“I'm taking precautions. I'm talking to my doctor,” Schlapp said Sunday. “I talked to my mom last night, who was at the conference who is 80 years old. She feels like a million bucks. I feel healthy as a horse. My kids do as well, so there’s no indications from anybody I’ve talked to that there are any more problems.”
The conference is attended by many prominent politicians and White House officials. President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence spoke at this year's event.
CPAC ATTENDEE TESTS POSITIVE FOR CORONAVIRUS; WHITE HOUSE SAYS TRUMP, PENCE NOT IN CLOSE PROXIMITY
The White House said there's no indication that Trump or Pence were in close proximity to the stricken attendee.
“I can verify that he had no contact with either the president or the vice president,” Schlapp said. “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 hands and clean his hands more than once while he was on the premises, and I did the same, by the way.”
Schlapp went on to say that the patient “didn't spend a lot of time going all over the conference. He stayed more in a small area.”
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He added: “We’ve talked to the Maryland Department of Health. They have been very, very helpful throughout this. They are not alarmed.”
Fox News' Melissa Leon and Chad Pergram contributed to this report.
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