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U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Prescott. Photo via Facebook
Arizona Republican U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar says he and his top aides have self-quarantined because they had “sustained contact” with a person who has since been diagnosed with coronavirus.
Gosar and three of his senior staffer, who haven’t been identified, spent an extended period of time with the sick person — also unidentified — last month at CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference.
1. I am announcing that I, along with 3 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. My office will be closed for the week.
— Paul Gosar (@DrPaulGosar) March 9, 2020
“We are all asymptomatic and feel great. But we are being proactive and cautious,” The Prescott Republican wrote on Twitter Sunday evening.
In an announcement on his official congressional Twitter page, Gosar wrote that he “shook hands several times” with the infected individual.
My statement on #COVID19: pic.twitter.com/dyuq55fnBG
— Rep. Paul Gosar, DDS (@RepGosar) March 9, 2020
The congressman didn’t immediately respond Arizona Mirror questions regarding the identities of the staffers who are also under quarantine and the person who has been diagnosed with coronavirus. That person remains hospitalized.
Gosar’s self-quarantine will continue in Arizona, and he said his Washington, D.C., office will be closed for the week “out of an abundance of caution.”
Gosar is the second member of Congress to self-quarantine after interactions at CPAC with the infected individual: Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz also announced Sunday that he was remaining in Texas until the 14-day incubation period for the coronavirus, known formally as COVID-19, had elapsed.
Gosar, who was a dentist before being elected to Congress, said he has been in contact with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and urged Arizonans to follow the advice of medical professionals and CDC to avoid coronavirus and mitigate its spread.
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