Freaking out in Tulsa, Ok. authorities, 74-year-old President Donald Trump’s June 20 rally expecting 100.000 participants raise fears of coronavirus AKA SARS CoV-2 or Covid-19 infections. Trump’s campaign promised to take preventive measures including providing temperature readings, hand sanitizer and masks to all conference participants. Tulsa’s Mayor G.T. Bynum praised the event, calling it an “honor” to host a Trump rally. Democrats sought to turn Trump’s rally into a flagrantly irresponsible action when U.S. deaths from Covid-19 hit 121,260. Democrats and media that criticize Trump upcoming rally but have no problems with thousands of protesters marching around the country, many without face-masks or any other protection. While outside venues seem to show less infections than indoor ones, Trump might consider open-air stadiums for hosting political rallies in the future.
With 2,286,496 active coronavirus cases in the United States, infectious disease experts worry political rallies will increase infections. Participants who received tickets for Trump’s Tulsa rally had to sign liability waivers about coronavirus infections that might result from rally. “Any large crowd has the ability to increase your transmission, but this is the perfect storm of people being packed into a into an arena in close proximity to one another,” said Marya Ghazipural, an epidemiologist and biostatistician on New York City’s Covid-19 Scientific Advisory Council. “The campaign takes the health and safety of rally-goers seriously and is taking precautions to make the rally safe,” said Erin Perrine Trump campaign deputy communication director. Perrine didn’t say why the campaign chose an indoor arena as opposed to an open-air stadium less prone to human-to-human transmission.
Taking all the precautions possible indoors is no comparison to outdoor settings where there’s apparently more air circulating to reduce the virus from spreading. “Every single rally-goer will have their temperature checked, be provided a face mask and hand sanitizer,” Perrine said, not addressing the indoor vs. outdoor venue comparison for public safety. Until there’s a vaccine or effective treatment, the Trump campaign would be well-advised to hold future Trump campaign rallies in outdoor venues. Democrats and the media have no argument backing crowded protests around the country over the May 25 chokehold death of George Floyd. Despite the rallies going on for three weeks, there’s been no spike in Covid-19 cases in protests capitals like New York City, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Seattle or any other large U.S. cities.
Saskia Popescou, a George Mason University epidemiologist, expressed concerns about Trump’s rally in Tulsa where Covid-19 infection rates have been on the rise. Popescu thinks the rise of cases in Tusla, the indoor venue and that Trump doesn’t wear a mask could all contribute to the perfect storm of more infections. “President Trump has repeatedly said he won’t wear masks in front of cameras, which might discourage people at the rally to also follow his lead, thus increasing risk,” said Popescu. “The chances of transmitting the virus is nearly 19 times higher indoors compared to outdoors. The idea is that open spaces and outdoor airflow have the ability to dilute the effects of the virus,” said Ghazipura. Ghazipura points out that even sun tends to kill active virus droplets spread through cheering, screaming, breathing and talking in public. Indoor venues trap re-circulated air, making the virus more contagious than outdoor settings.
Trump was so anxious to get back on the campaign rally circuit, he planners didn’t have the time needed to think through the safest way to proceed. While Democrats would like to keep Trump muzzled or in the basement like 77-year-old former Vice President and Democrat nominee Joe Biden, Trump’s raring to go. Trump thinks that if he’s not in rallies or on Twitter, he’s trashed by the mainstream media, all of whom work closely with Democrats to defeat him in November. To Trump, the public rallies and Twitter are the only way to get out his story. With 71-year-old former National Security Adviser John Bolton’s new book, “The Room Where It Happened,” trashing Trump in the press, Trump feels more compelled than ever to get out his message. Trump’s handlers in hindsight should have picked an open-air venue for crowded political rallies, something that’s too late.
Democrats and the media’s worst fears are that Trump gets back to his highly entertaining political rallies. Truth be told, Joe Biden lacks the charisma and oratory skills to pull off what Trump does. If he’s going to repeat what he did in 2016, he’s going to have to spend between now and Nov. 3 election in mass campaign rallies. Fox News June 18 national poll showed Biden with a 12% lead nationwide, something Hillary enjoyed four years ago. Trump came from behind to win the race, pulling upset wins in key battleground states like Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Florida. Democrats hoped the coronavirus global pandemic would slow Trump down, confine him to virtual rallies or town hall events on Zoom Conferencing. Tulsa’s rally tomorrow gives Trump the best shot of beginning to make up the deficit due to Covid-19 and, more recently, racial protests and riots around the country.
