March 5 (UPI) -- The American Israel Public Affairs Committee said attendees to its policy conference earlier this week, including U.S. lawmakers, may have come into contact with a person infected with COVID-19.
In a statement published Wednesday night on Twitter, AIPAC said a group from New York came into contact with a person confirmed to be infected with the coronavirus prior to attending the conference. The person infected did not, however, attend the Washington, D.C., conference, which ran from Sunday to Tuesday, the Israel lobbying group said.
According to the lobby's website, the three-day policy conference attracts more than 18,000 people "to learn, meet with the nation's top leaders and do their part to strengthen the U.S.-Israel relationship."
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In the statement by AIPAC President Betsy Berns Korn and AIPAC Chairman Mort Fridman, AIPAC said the attendees who came into contact with the infected person have been added to a self-quarantine list.
"To our knowledge, no one who attended the conference has tested positive for coronavirus at this time," the statement read, adding, "although we have been told by the D.C. Health Department there is no reason to 'sound the alarm,' we want to be sure all Policy Conference attendees have the information we have at this time."
Some of the speakers from this year's event included U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, U.S. Security of State Mike Pompeo, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and other government officials.
Earlier Wednesday, officials in California announced the nation's 11th death due to the virus while Chinese health officials reported Thursday that its death toll from the disease climbed to more than 3,000.