At least four people who were at Monday’s Republican National Convention meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina, tested positive for COVID-19, according to county officials.
Two attendees and two other “individuals supporting the event” tested positive for COVID-19 and were immediately isolated, according to an official release North Carolina’s Mecklenburg County posted on Friday.
A Republican spokesperson told ABC News a number of safety precautions were put in place that included testing all attendees both before traveling to Charlotte and, upon arrival, contact tracing protocols were followed. While wearing masks and social distancing were encouraged, they were not enforced.
“Out of roughly 1,000 tests administered, two RNC attendees, despite having negative tests prior to travel, and two Charlotte locals who planned to serve as event support staff tested positive upon arrival. All were sent home,” RNC Communications Director Michael Ahrens told ABC News.
According to the country release, “approximately 792 COVID-19 tests were conducted among individuals attending or providing support to the Republican National Convention (RNC) Meeting in the City of Charlotte.”
But on the ground in Charlotte, where over 300 delegates from around the country traveled to the city, most attendees packed inside the Charlotte Convention Center did not wear masks, bucking North Carolina’s COVID-19 statewide mask mandate.
The convention in Charlotte, which was separate from the rest of the week’s convention events that were held in Washington D.C., is not the only Trump event that has been linked to attendees testing positive for coronavirus.
Earlier this summer, Trump held a rally in Tulsa that public health experts in the state say contributed to a rise in cases in the city.
