More Aides Test Positive After Rally

Two Secret Service staffers are among those infected with the coronavirus
By Bob Cronin,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 22, 2020 7:15 PM CDT
More Aides Test Positive After Rally
People begin to fill the arena floor before a campaign rally for President Trump at BOK Center in Tulsa on Saturday.   (Matt Barnard/Tulsa World via AP)

Coronavirus tests have come back positive for two more members of President Trump's Tulsa advance team. Both were at the president's reelection rally Saturday, NBC reports, and the campaign said they wore masks. That brings the number of staff members who were in Tulsa known to be infected with the coronavirus to eight—a total that could rise—after six people tested postiive before the event. That group includes two Secret Service staff members. "Upon the positive tests, the campaign immediately activated established quarantine and contact tracing protocols," said Tim Murtaugh, the campaign's communications director.

The Trump campaign earlier had said that no staff members who had tested positive were in the Tulsa arena, per the New York Times. It wasn't clear whether the two infected staff members had any contact with Trump or Vice President Mike Pence at the rally. Masks were handed out to the crowd, but many people did not wear one. The president is scheduled to travel to Arizona on Tuesday for an event with Students for Trump at a megachurch. The mayor of Phoenix said attendees will not be required to wear a mask, per KTAR, but she expressed hope that Trump would advise people to wear one. (To attend the Tulsa rally, you had to agree not to sue the campaign over catching the virus.)

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