AIPAC Notifies Participants in Conference That Some Attendees Were Exposed to Coronavirus

This afternoon, AIPAC sent a message to all the participants and attendees of its recent Policy Conference which was held this week in Washington, D.C. notifying them of a small risk of potential exposure to COVID-19.

Betsy Berns Korn, AIPAC President and Dr. Mort Friedman, AIPAC Chairman of the Board, notified the participants that a group who attended the conference from New York may have had contact with an individual who contracted the coronavirus. They stressed that the person who is ill did not attend the conference, and the D.C. Health Department considers the risk of exposure to be small, with no need “to sound the alarm at this time.”

The New York group has been added to the self-quarantine list.

AIPAC stated that they are in close contact with the D.C. Health Department, and they are coordinating their next steps and communication with the CDC and the NYC Health Department, and they are moving quickly to gather and share information as it becomes clear.

A Brooklynite who attended the conference who wanted to be identified only as Yisrael told Hamodia, “We heard that Israel was implementing restrictions and quarantining people, and the thought crossed my mind that there was a chance that one of the Israelis attending the conference may have come in contact with someone who was ill. When word got out on Sunday that someone in New York was infected with the coronavirus, I became mildly concerned that I was sitting here with some 18,000 people from nearly every state in the union, which increased the chances of exposure. But now that we know that a Jewish person from New Rochelle was hospitalized, I’m sure some people are apprehensive that there is an increased possibility that someone came in contact with this individual.

“I can’t really worry too much about this, and I just daven to Hashem that He protect us and that we all remain healthy.”