WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz is staying in self-quarantine after learning he met with another person who has now tested positive for coronavirus.

The senator was supposed to end his self-imposed two-week quarantine Friday, but announced he’ll be staying at home for another four days after learning that Santiago Abascal, the leader of the Vox Party in Spain — with whom Cruz said he met for about 20 minutes in his office in D.C. — tested positive. Cruz said the two sat together at a conference table, shook hands twice and took pictures together.

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“I’m still not feeling any symptoms. I’m consulting with medical officials,” Cruz said in a statement. “But, for the same reasons I initially self-quarantined — out of an abundance of caution and to give everyone peace of mind — I am extending the self-quarantine to March 17, a full fourteen days from my meeting with Mr. Abascal.”

Cruz previously decided to self-quarantine after learning he interacted very briefly with a man who later tested positive at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland in late February.

On Thursday, Cruz closed his D.C. office after a staffer in another Senate office tested positive.

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“COVID-19 is a serious public health hazard,” he said in the statement. “All of us should resist panic, and we should listen to the doctors and the science. Medical professionals tell us social distancing is one of the most effective ways to prevent the spread of this virus, and we should take every step possible to protect our health and be safe.”

ben.wermund@chron.com