Three AIPAC Attendees from Test  Positive for Coronavirus; Israeli Attendees Quarantined

Three attendees of the AIPAC conference in Washington earlier this week tested positive for the coronavirus, leading Israel to quarantine all returning citizens who participated.

By: AP

A third AIPAC Policy Conference attendee has been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus, a Los Angeles County Department of Public Health statement said Saturday, according to an Haaretz report.

The patient is a Los Angeles resident who recently returned from the pro-Israel lobby’s conference in Washington, D.C., the statement said. The department did not mention whether this person contracted the virus, also known as COVID-19, at AIPAC, or if they had already caught it before the conference, which took place from last Saturday until Tuesday and drew about 18,000 participants, as was reported by Haaretz. 

Haaretz reported on Friday that AIPAC sent out an email to its mailing list saying that two New York residents who attended the conference have tested positive for the coronavirus. A day earlier, AIPAC emailed event participants saying that a delegation from a New York synagogue that was in attendance had been in contact with a person who had  the virus before the event. The announcements stirred confusion and concern among other conference attendees both in the United States and in Israel.

These are the first linked to the nation’s capital.

On Saturday, the Israeli Health Ministry issued a statement requiring all Israelis who attended the AIPAC conference to self-quarantine at home, The Jerusalem Post reported.

Thousands of people attended the policy conference, including some members of Congress and administration officials.

Vice President Mike Pence, who is heading the Trump administration’s response to the Coronavirus, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo were among the speakers.

Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health called contact tracing — the process of trying to find out whom the person had been in contact with — “the public health weapon.”

“We need to get those people isolated to do the contact tracing,” he said. “We don’t have enough information now because this is the first I’ve actually heard about it also.”

AIPAC, a major pro-Israel lobbying group, used Twitter to announce the positive test results: “We have confirmed that at least two Policy Conference attendees from New York have tested positive for the coronavirus,” it said.

The group said it is in contact with health officials in Westchester County, New York, and Washington. It urged attendees to follow Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines and to consult with their doctors if they feel ill or have medical questions.

“If you test positive for coronavirus, we urge you to inform your local health authorities so they can properly coordinate their response to this situation with the appropriate health authorities,” AIPAC said. (Haaretz & AP)