"We will get through this": Sen. Ted Cruz comments on second self-quarantine
Senator Ted Cruz is in the middle of his second quarantine after finding out he was around a second person with a positive case of COVID-19.
After emerging from a voluntary quarantine earlier this week, Cruz learned he'd come into contact with a second person who is from Spain.
Out of an abundance of caution, he decided he will stay home until March 17, although, he's not shown any symptoms or been tested.
He said overall he feels good.
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While speaking with ABC13 from his Houston home, he answered questions about the Trump administration's response to the disease, its outbreak, the mixed messaging from the White House, and the lack of testing.
"There are steps I think the administration has taken that have been very strong and very positive," he said. "There are other steps where they frankly should have done better. In terms of the strong and positive, I think the most important decision made early on was the president's decision to halt commercial air travel into and out of China. That decision was made early in this outbreak before a significant number made it to the United States."
Cruz urged the need for more testing and said he pushed for a four pronged approach to battling the worldwide virus which the World Health Organization labeled a pandemic.
First, he said he wants more available and more accurate testing. Second, Cruz wants more preventative equipment for first-responders and those treating the infected. Third, he believes there is a critical need for more capacity in hospitals and more resources, specifically, he believes there is a need for ventilators. Lastly, he wants a clear focus on the speedy development of vaccines, treatments, and ultimately cures.
"I think we ought to be guided by the facts," he said. "We ought to be guided by the science and by the advice of medical professionals. This is a serious threat. This is a global pandemic. Across the globe, as of today, we have 153,503 confirmed cases. In the United States we have 2,488 confirmed cases, and in Texas we have 43 confirmed cases. If you look worldwide at confirmed deaths we have as of today 5789 and we have 52 confirmed deaths in the United States. This is a serious global pandemic. But at the same time, we shouldn't give in to panic or hysteria. This is not the zombie apocalypse. We will get through this and we will get through this by listening to the advice of medical professionals and following sound preventative steps."
He has not taken a test because he said his doctors told him someone lacking symptoms wouldn't need it. There is conflicting evidence about whether or not asymptomatic patients would test positive for the disease.
Regardless, the U.S. doesn't have enough tests to offer them to the asymptomatic exposed to the disease.
That, critics contend, is part of the White House's slow response to the viral outbreak.
"We need to continually do better," said Senator Cruz, "and I'm urging the administration, working hand in hand with the administration to streamline their process to make sure we are mobilizing every resource possible to stop this global pandemic and to protect people's health and safety."
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