Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at the BOK Center on June 20, 2020 in Tulsa, Oklahoma
Los Angeles, United States:
The controversial Donald Trump rally and other mass events in Tulsa last month “more than likely” contributed to a local outbreak of coronavirus cases, state health officials in Oklahoma State said on Wednesday. southern United States.
Tulsa County recorded new record COVID-19 cases daily this week, including 266 on Wednesday, after falling in the previous two weeks.
Pressed on whether this explosion of new infections was due to Trump’s June 20 meeting, Tulsa’s health department director Bruce Dart said it was “more than likely” that “significant events at over the past few weeks “had contributed.
Several thousand supporters of the President challenged the pandemic to attend the fiery rally last month, which was announced as a major campaign relaunch before the November elections.
Although participation did not live up to the expectations of the Trump campaign team, the indoor gathering was criticized for its lack of social distancing and its inability to enforce masks.
“In the past two days, we have had close to 500 cases, and we know we had several major events just over two weeks ago, which is about the case,” said Dart. “So I guess we just connect the dots.”
People infected with COVID-19 may take approximately two weeks to develop their symptoms.
Participants’ temperatures were taken at the entrance to Trump’s rally and masks distributed, but the majority of participants were not wearing them – including Trump himself.
Several members of the Republican billionaire’s campaign team tested positive for coronavirus before and after the rally, as did secret service agents.
A day before Trump’s rally, thousands of people in Tulsa participated in the June 19 commemorations marking the release of the last American slaves in 1865.
On the night of the rally, nearly 1,000 counter-demonstrators also gathered in the city.
During these outdoor events, the majority wore masks, observed an AFP journalist.
(This story has not been edited by GalacticGaming staff and is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
