WASHINGTON (Reuters) – People attending President Donald Trump’s campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Saturday will receive temperature checks, masks and hand sanitizer before entering the arena, the Republican president’s campaign said.
The campaign said there have been more than 1 million ticket requests for the indoor rally, Trump’s first in the three months since the coronavirus curbed travel and shut down the economy.
People lining up to get into the venue will face temperatures forecast to be up to 95 degrees Fahrenheit (35 degrees Celsius). Precautions will be taken against the heat and there will be bottled water, campaign spokesman Brad Parscale said on Monday on Twitter.
The rally was postponed from Friday after a public outcry because it coincided with the Juneteenth holiday, when African Americans mark the end of U.S. slavery, and would be held in a city where one of the largest black massacres took place a century ago.
Tulsa’s chief health official told a local newspaper on Saturday he was concerned about holding a large event of any kind indoors when coronavirus cases in the area were rising.
Other health experts have expressed concern the event could be a “superspreader” for the virus, which is seeing a flareup in several states after their economies began to reopen.
(Reporting by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
