(Tulsa, OK) The Trump campaign announced on Monday that two more staffers who attended to the President’s Tulsa rally have tested positive for coronavirus.
“After another round of testing for campaign staff in Tulsa, two additional members of the advance team tested positive for the coronavirus. These staff members attended the rally but were wearing masks during the entire event. Upon the positive tests, the campaign immediately activated established quarantine and contact tracing protocols,” Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh stated.
With the addition of these two positive cases, the number of people who tested positive in Tulsa for the Trump campaign goes to eight after the campaign said that six staffers working on the rally tested positive for coronavirus on Friday.
Those attending the rally had to agree to not to sue the campaign if they contract coronavirus, acknowledging the “inherent risk of exposure to COVID-19 exists in any public place where people are present.”
The Oklahoma State Department of Health is urging Oklahomans to be tested for COVID-19 if they have recently attended large-scale gatherings such as protests or the campaign rally for President Donald Trump in Tulsa.
The OSDH reported a record 478 new coronavirus cases in Oklahoma on Sunday, continuing a trend of skyrocketing case numbers that has persisted for more than a week.
“As expected, Oklahoma’s urban areas as well as a few communities around the state are experiencing a rise in active COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations due to increased social activity and mobility,” said interim Health Commissioner Lance Frye, M.D. “We continue to have more than 80 free testing locations across the state, and we need Oklahomans to get tested, even those without symptoms, so we can identify active cases and work together to minimize community spread.”
OSDH encourages Oklahomans to seek COVID-19 testing both prior to attending large-scale gatherings and in the days following, and to wear a mask when physical distancing is a challenge.
“OSDH has also deployed strike teams across 11 regions in the state to support communities when a COVID-19 hot spot has been identified,” Frye said. “These strike teams are comprised of public health professionals, testing experts, and epidemiologists who partner with local stakeholders to increase testing capacity and provide additional infrastructure support and guidance to minimize spread.”
The OSDH said the state’s emergency protective supplies and testing capacity remain strong. OSDH has also hired more than 700 full and part-time contact tracers since March 2020 to support these efforts. Additional contact tracers are being hired and trained to expand efforts.
“Personal responsibility remains key in protecting yourself and our local communities from COVID-19,” Frye said. “We continue to encourage Oklahomans to consider wearing a mask, to routinely wash hands, and to use physical distancing measures, which are recommendations set forth by the CDC. As a society, we face a delicate balance of creating a new normal that takes into account public health, mental health, and economic risks. It will take all of us working together, as one state, to overcome the many challenges COVID-19 presents until there is a widely available vaccine.”
