Coronavirus hits the press corps: Journalists who attended CPAC go into quarantine

The world’s largest gathering of conservatives has had an unintended consequence. After a single attendee at the recent CPAC conference turned up with positive exposure to the mystery virus, news organizations have begun quarantine procedures for their reporters who attended the event.

“Politico, the Washington Post, the Daily Beast, and Mother Jones have asked reporters who covered CPAC to self-quarantine and work remotely due to concerns that they may have been exposed to the novel coronavirus,” said a report from The Washingtonian, a news organization based in the nation’s capital.

“Both the Post and Politico say they’ve taken measures to clean and sanitize public areas. The Post has asked employees who were at CPAC to self-quarantine for seven days. All newsrooms tell Washingtonian they’ve taken such measures out of an abundance of caution.”

The American Conservative Union — host organization to the mammoth gathering — has already issued two comprehensive advisories for concerned attendees.

“We continue to remain in close contact with the infected individual and he continues to be doing better. Also, at this point, no other CPAC attendee, participant or staff has tested positive for coronavirus,” the organization advised on Monday.

So far, Sen. Ted Cruz is perhaps the most high profile CPAC attendee to self-quarantine in the wake of the news.