Six Trump Campaign Staffers Test Positive for Coronavirus Ahead of Tulsa Rally

Six members of President Donald Trump's campaign staff who are in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to setup for the president's first campaign rally in months tested positive for the coronavirus, the campaign announced on Saturday, a development that is likely to increase concerns about the safety of the massive and high-profile indoor event.

Trump’s campaign said Saturday that quarantine procedures were implemented for the staffers and that neither the aides nor anyone they came into contact with will take part in the event.

“Per safety protocols, campaign staff are tested for COVID-19 before events. Six members of the advance team tested positive out of hundreds of tests performed, and quarantine procedures were immediately implemented,” Tim Murtaugh, the communications director for Trump’s campaign, said in a statement.


“No COVID-positive staffers or anyone in immediate contact will be at today’s rally or near attendees and elected officials,” the statement read. “As previously announced, all rally attendees are given temperature checks before going through security, at which point they are given wristbands, face masks and hand sanitizer.”

Public health officials have raised concerns for several days that the rally could become a “super spreader” event because it will involve thousands of people standing shoulder to shoulder inside an area, the BOK Center in Tulsa.

Trump campaign officials and the White House have dismissed those concerns, noting that masks would be distributed.

June 20, 2020