Corona fears and anxiety ahead of Trump’s rally

Tens of thousands of people from many states crowded Tulsa for an indoor rally and other campaign events Saturday for President Donald Trump, raising concerns that the gatherings could help fuel nascent spikes of cor navirus cases in many places.

State and city health department officials were already bracing for a possible surge in COVID-19 cases from large outdoor demonstrations against police brutality held across the country.

Now the Trump rally - at an indoor arena that can hold 19,000 people and is expected to be at capacity - is shaping up to be the first indoor event of such a massive scale since the coronavirus pandemic took hold and many states issued stay-at-home orders.

Tulsa has seen the largest increase in cases in Oklahoma in recent days, and several bordering states, including Arkansas, have seen spikes in community spread of the virus in recent weeks.

"I think there's no question that indoor events are more risky than outdoor events. But we don't really know how big that difference is. And certainly other aspects, like how tightly packed things are ... will make a big difference," said Justin Lessler, an associate professor of epidemiology at John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Lessler said large events like the rally or the protests have the "potential to be super spreader events," but their potential to drive the pandemic is short-lived. Meanwhile, Protesters marched over the Brooklyn Bridge, chanted "We want justice now!" near St. Louis' Gateway Arch, prayed in Atlanta and paused for a moment of silence at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington, as Americans marked Juneteenth Friday with new urgency amid protests to demand racial justice.