Four test positive for COVID at GOP convention in Charlotte
Two attendees and two local support staff at the Republican National Convention in Charlotte tested positive for COVID-19, Mecklenburg County and GOP officials announced Friday.
The disclosures come after county health officials raised concerns about a lack of social distancing and mask wearing during the rollcall vote to renominate President Donald Trump for a second term on Monday – despite strict health protocols that were supposed to be followed. The GOP is defending the safety procedures it had in place.
Local health officials said the county instructed those who were infected to isolate immediately, and people who came in close contact with them should also quarantine themselves. A county spokeswoman did not immediately respond to questions on the orders were followed.
It is not clear how many people at the RNC might have been exposed to the coronavirus; 792 people were tested by the local hospital systems for the event.
GOP spokeswoman Blair Ellis said the two infected attendees drove themselves home while self-isolating. That action aligns with the joint guidelines from the RNC, county and local hospitals.
The RNC protocols state: “If attendee tests positive for COVID-19 during the event, attendees agree to extend their stay in Charlotte for self-isolation, unless able to secure safe, private transportation home.” Two weeks of isolation were expected for anyone who came in contact with a person who tested positive.
The public may need to wait weeks for an “afteraction” report detailing the true scope of infections linked to the RNC.
For now, Mecklenburg Public Health Director Gibbie Harris has said the convention posed no infection risk to the greater Charlotte area.
“There have been no known incidences during the five days of RNC meetings in Charlotte where the public has potentially been exposed to an individual involved in the event (local or otherwise) who may have tested positive for COVID,” Harris said in a statement Tuesday.
Charlotte’s portion of the RNC was a dramatically scaled-down convention for a spectacle once expected to draw more than 50,000 people to the Queen City.
Earlier this month, the RNC’S senior adviser for health and safety said the modified gathering in Charlotte still posed a “high risk” with more than 300 delegates traveling from all across the country.
In a statement Friday, the RNC said it had
“diligent safety protocols in place,” which included coronavirus testing.
“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,” said Michael Ahrens, a spokesman for the RNC. “All were sent home.”
The Charlotte region has been North Carolina’s epicenter for the novel coronavirus since March when the pandemic began.
There have been almost 25,000 confirmed cases and 290 related deaths of county residents as of Thursday afternoon.
“As North Carolina continues to work to prevent spread of the virus and cautiously lift restrictions, it was disappointing to see reports that the RNC failed to follow through on their plan, potentially putting attendees and North Carolinians at risk,” said a spokeswoman for Dr. Mandy Cohen, secretary of the state Department of Health and Human Services.
When delegates arrived in Charlotte last week, they were tested for the virus upon registration and had regular symptom checks. Nearly 800 tests were administered by the local hospital systems among both attendees and support staff from the surrounding community, Mecklenburg officials said.
The RNC also used a rapid antigen testing system for other people at the convention, county spokeswoman Rebecca Carter said. “We did not manage those tests and the antigen tests do not confirm infection,” she said.
Once in town, attendees were free to move about the city, eating at restaurants and attending events. That opened up the possibility that the virus could be picked up after their Charlotte-based test, and before the convention in person.
“Bringing hundreds of people together in our state during a pandemic was a slap to the face to the Charlotte community and all North Carolinians,” Austin Cook, a spokesman for the North Carolina Democratic Party, said in a statement Friday.
Over the weekend ahead of the Monday renomination, delegates gathered for business meetings in a ballroom in the Westin Charlotte and mingled at a handful of events in the city, where mask wearing was not absolute.