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Six Trump staffers setting up for Tulsa rally test positive for coronavirus

National Guardsman stands outside the BOK Center in Tulsa, Okla., before President Trump's rally on Saturday.
A National Guardsman stands outside the BOK Center in Tulsa, Okla., before President Trump’s rally on Saturday.
(Associated Press)
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President Trump’s campaign said six staff members helping set up for his Saturday night rally in Tulsa, Okla., have tested positive for coronavirus.

The campaign’s communications director, Tim Murtaugh, said in a statement that “quarantine procedures” were immediately initiated and no staff member who tested positive would attend the event. He said no one who had immediate contact with those staffers would attend, either.

Murtaugh said campaign staff members are tested for COVID-19 as part of the campaign’s safety protocols.

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Campaign officials have said that everyone attending the rally will have their temperature checked before they pass through security. They will also be given masks to wear, if they want, and hand sanitizer at the 19,000-seat BOK Center.

The rally is expected to be the biggest indoor event the country has seen since restrictions to prevent the coronavirus from spreading began in March.

Tulsa has seen cases of COVID-19 spike in the past week, and the local health department director asked that the rally be postponed. But Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt said it would be safe and the Oklahoma Supreme Court on Friday denied a request that everyone attending the rally be required to wear a mask. Few in the crowd outside the arena Saturday afternoon were wearing them.

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