Ted Cruz pressed officials on coronavirus. He didn’t love all their answers

Why was an infected patient released from quarantine in San Antonio and into the public for 12 hours?

How long can the coronavirus survive on the interior of an airplane?

Who does an airline official call if they need to talk to someone from the government about the virus in an emergency?

These were a few of the questions that senators from both political parties had for officials from the Department of Transportation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Customs and Border Protection.

Members of the Senate Aviation and Space subcommittee, chaired by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, quizzed the officials at a Wednesday hearing.

They weren’t always happy with the answers.

Cruz noted that communications breakdowns surrounding the spreading illness are making the problem worse, accusing the media — “whether intentionally or not” — of inciting panic. He also pressed the CDC on a mixup that led to an infected person being released from quarantine in San Antonio and into the public for about 12 hours.

Those 12 hours led to the mayor declaring a public health emergency and asking for a deep cleaning of a mall he visited.

Dr. Stephen Redd, a CDC official and member of the federal coronavirus task force, agreed with Cruz’s characterization of the San Antonio incident, saying that the patient was released while there were conflicting and outstanding tests.

“That raises real questions about the tests,” Cruz said.

Senators from both parties hit the officials with questions.

“Right now, if United Airlines needed to call somebody, there would be no single contact (at the CDC)?” asked Sen. Cory Gardner, a Colorado Republican.

“There is not” any one person at the CDC for airlines to call, Redd said.

“That is a problem,” Gardner said.

Sen. Maria Cantwell, a Washington Democrat, asked how long the virus can survive on surfaces within the plane if it spreads from an infected person.

“The virus can last hours to a day” Redd said.

“Up to a day,” Cantwell repeated slowly.

Sen. Brian Schatz, a Hawaii Democrat, asked Redd to clarify a number on the CDC’s site that said 80 people were infected with the virus nationwide: “It’s sort of garbage in garbage out … it’s not that it’s 80, it’s that you’ve confirmed 80.”

“That is correct,” Redd said.

Schatz said if that’s the case, then information on the CDC’s site needs to be changed to “reflect that uncertainty and prepare the public that the number of cases that we have confirmed is going to skyrocket” once more tests are available nationwide.

Cruz said the goal of his hearing was “to give the American public the opportunity to hear straight from officials on the frontlines without spin or partisan bias.

“This is a rapidly changing situation. Every day, and on some days every hour, we are learning more about the virus, where it has spread, and how the human body responds,” Cruz said, noting that the mortality rate appears to be around 3%, mainly older people and concentrated among those with underlying health conditions.

Cruz told the three witnesses that if their agencies need any additional legal powers to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, they should tell Congress as quickly as they can.

“I think you will find a bipartisan eagerness” to act, he said. “But we cannot address legal impediments if your agencies do not bring them to our attention.”

Congress has already shown bipartisan eagerness to act on the coronavirus, with the Senate Thursday passing, 96-1, a roughly $8 billion funding bill to fuel efforts to fight the disease. The House passed the legislation Wednesday.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, has been in touch with officials from Texas, Bexar County and the City of San Antonio to get their cost estimates for reimbursements and to connect them with federal government officials.

Cornyn pushed for money to be available in the funding bill to reimburse state and local governments that have borne the costs of the early days of the nation’s response to the virus. Nearly $1 billion would be available for such reimbursements.

Texas saw its first case of coronavirus outside of the San Antonio quarantine Wednesday, with a man near Houston testing positive for the virus.

On Monday, 125 former passengers of the Diamond Princess Cruise ship finished their two-week quarantine in San Antonio and were released from the base. Two more were released Tuesday, said CDC spokeswoman Carol Williams.

These 127 did not show symptoms of the disease, and though they weren’t required to be tested for the virus, they were “offered” tests, Williams said in a statement. She did not respond when asked how many took the tests and how many did not.

Redd, also from the CDC, said at the hearing that mandatory tests for people who haven’t been sick is “a balance for individual liberty and for protecting the health of the public.”

Fifteen people remain on the base in quarantine or medical care due to close exposure to the virus while on the cruise ship, Williams said.

This story was originally published March 5, 2020 at 12:27 PM.