In the wake of this weekend's incident, it is an appropriate response. The quarantine should be extended to cover what appears to be a new element in our understanding of this virus.

I spoke with Senator John Cornyn this morning, who was supportive of my request. Governor Abbott, most of our Bexar County Congressional delegation and Judge Wolff have expressed similar sentiments. Everybody is supportive of the CDC performing its due diligence.

At this time, the CDC has not confirmed that they will hold evacuees from the Diamond Princess cohort until further testing is completed.

As such, I have issued a declaration of public health emergency designed to formally ensure that the CDC does not move evacuees from Lackland until further testing is completed.

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Regarding the now-quarantined patient's travel on Saturday: The only time period where the patient was in a highly public area was North Star Mall on Saturday, February 29 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

EDIT: Full timeline of patient's travel:

Saturday, February 29, 2020

• 2:53 PM – Patient was dropped off at the Holiday Inn Express Airport at 91 NE Loop 410 by a third-party driver. The patient entered the room at 3:11 PM.

• 5:13 PM – Patient returned to the hotel lobby and requested a shuttle. The patient was picked up at 5:23 PM by a hotel shuttle driver.

• 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM – Patient visited North Star Mall, including Dillard’s, Talbot’s and Swarovski. Patient went to the food court, ordered food from a Chinese restaurant and ate alone in the food court area. Patient was not in close contact with anyone at the mall.

• 7:30 PM – Patient returned to hotel on the hotel shuttle.

• 7:35 PM – Patient reentered room.

Sunday, March 1, 2020

• 2:00 AM – Patient was transported back to Texas Center for Infectious Disease in a specialized ambulance. All medical professionals on board wore personal protective equipment.

North Star Mall has closed for sanitizing out of an abundance of caution.

Because of the patient's expected viral load, the CDC is classifying the risk of exposure as very low.

We believe the risk to the general public remains very low.

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I will continue to provide updates on my actions and any critical information that I receive.