CPAC chairman: Infected attendee had no contact with Trump, Pence

The chairman of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) said Sunday that the attendee infected with coronavirus had no contact with President Trump or Vice President Mike Pence.

Chairman Matt Schlapp on Fox News’ “Fox & Friends Weekend” also encouraged attendees of the conference not to “panic” about the coronavirus.

“I can verify that he had no contact with either the president or the vice president,” he said.  “And 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.”

The chairman said he had come into physical contact with the patient at CPAC and has since contacted the quarantined person who is “on the mend.” He said he has contacted any person who “might have had contact with the patient, if I can verify it.”

“I think he was there most of the time, and the patient did not, I would say this, he didn’t spend a lot of time going all over the conference,” Schlapp added.  

He pledged that the organization will take “all necessary steps” to combat the virus.

The American Conservative Union (ACU) announced Saturday that an attendee of the conference attended by thousands had contracted coronavirus. Schlapp had also told The Washington Post that he had shaken Trump’s hand after interacting with the patient.

The coronavirus has spread to infect more than 430 people in the U.S. across 28 states, causing 17 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.