No Masks, Social Distancing Required at Trump's Upcoming Tulsa Rally

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Rally-goers at President Donald Trump's Saturday campaign event in Tulsa, Oklahoma will not be required to wear masks or social distance.

The rally is the first at the BOK Center in Tusa since the spread of coronavirus forced the closure of the venue. All other scheduled events at the 20,000 seat arena are canceled through the end of July. 

“It is a Trump rally, the arena will be packed,” Tim Murtaugh, communications director for the Trump campaign told CNN

Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale tweeted on June 15,  that each rally-goer will have a temperature check before entering the arena, and hand sanitizer and masks will be available. 

Over 1M ticket requests for the @realDonaldTrump #MAGA Rally in Tulsa on Saturday.Before entering each guest will get:✅Temperature check✅Hand sanitizer✅MaskThere will be precautions for the heat and bottled water as well.

— Brad Parscale (@parscale) June 15, 2020

According to the New York Times, Tulsa officials are begging Trump to cancel the rally as cases in the city continue to rise.

“It’s the perfect storm of potential over-the-top disease transmission,” Bruce Dart, the executive director of the Tulsa health department to the Times. “It’s a perfect storm that we can’t afford to have.”

According to the Tulsa Area Emergency Management Agency, Tulsa County, which includes the city of Tulsa, tallied 89 new coronavirus cases on Monday, its one-day high since the virus’s outbreak, . The number of active coronavirus cases climbed to 532 from 188 in a one-week period, a 182 percent increase; hospitalizations with Covid-19 almost doubled.

CDC recommends wearing cloth face coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain. 

On June 17, Wednesday, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health confirmed 34 new deaths and 2,129 new cases of 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19).

It was the highest daily total of new cases reported in LA County on Wednesday.