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Six Trump Campaign Staffers Setting Up for Tulsa Rally Test Positive for Covid-19

Donald Trump supporters cheer and wave an American flag in the waiting area prior to a campaign rally for President Donald Trump on June 20, 2020 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Trump is scheduled to hold his first political rally since the start of the coronavirus pandemic at the BOK Center on Saturday while infection rates in the state of Oklahoma continue to rise. (Photo: Michael B. Thomas/Getty Images)

Six Trump Campaign Staffers Setting Up for Tulsa Rally Test Positive for Covid-19

The news comes just hours before the president holds a campaign event in the city.

The public health impact of President Donald Trump's Saturday rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma is under heightened scrutiny after six Trump campaign staffers tested positive for the coronavirus.

The campaign said Saturday that the staffers, who are part of the "advance team," were tested as part of "safety protocols."

"Six members of the advance team tested positive out of hundreds of tests performed, and quarantine procedures were immediately implemented," Tim Murtaugh, the campaign communications director 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."

Public health officials have already warned about the "extraordinarily dangerous" public health risks the 19,000 people face at the indoor arena.

Cases of coronavirus in Oklahoma have been surging, and the Associated Press reported that "Tulsa has seen the largest increase in cases in Oklahoma in recent days."

The mask-refusing president has acknowledged the coronavirus risk of the event, however, with the campaign requiring attendees to agree not to sue the campaign or the venue if they contract coronavirus during the rally.

The event had originally been scheduled for Friday but was pushed back following widespread criticism over falling on Juneteenth and in the city that saw a brutal racist massacre in 1921.

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