2 US lawmakers self-quarantine over contact with man with coronavirus

Two members of US Congress have entered isolation after coming in contact with a man later diagnosed with COVID-19.

Sen. Ted Cruz and congressman Paul Gosar said they are quarantining themselves after determining they had engaged at a political conference with a man infected with the coronavirus.

Cruz said he had brief contact with the man at the Conservative Political Action Conference nearly two weeks ago and would spend the next few days at his home in Texas until a full 14 days had passed since their interaction. Cruz revealed he had shaken hands with the man. He has no symptoms.

Gosar said he had sustained contact with the man at CPAC and that he and three members of his senior staff are under self-quarantine. The office of the Arizona Republican will be closed for the week.

Besides Cruz and Gosar, the CPAC schedule lists three other senators and 12 House members who were scheduled to speak. They include No. 2 House GOP leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana, No. 3 Republican leader Liz Cheney of Wyoming and congressman Mark Meadows of North Carolina, who has since become the White House chief of staff.

US President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence also attended CPAC near Washington last month. Organizers said the president and vice president were not in the vicinity of the infected man.

Some 30 US states have been hit by the novel coronavirus, with Oregon the latest to declare an emergency, and 60 million people in California and New York under crisis measures.

Two more deaths linked to a virus-hit care home near Seattle were reported Sunday, bringing the nationwide toll to at least 21.

A Johns Hopkins tally put the number of confirmed US cases at 537 by Sunday afternoon, with newly diagnosed patients in states including Pennsylvania, Illinois, Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Jersey.