SECRET SERVICE told to selfquarantine after Tulsa rally.

After positive reads, hospital arranges testing session for agents, local officials

WASHINGTON — Dozens of Secret Service officers and agents who were on site for President Donald Trump’s rally in Tulsa last week were ordered to self-quarantine after two of their colleagues tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

The Secret Service instructed employees who worked the Tulsa event to stay at home for 14 days when they returned from the weekend trip, according to two people familiar with the agency’s decision.

The order came in the wake of the discovery — hours before the president’s Saturday evening rally — that at least six advance staffers who helped organize the trip had tested positive for the virus, including two Secret Service employees. Another two advance staffers tested positive after Trump returned to Washington on Sunday.

On Tuesday, the Secret Service field office in Tulsa arranged for a special testing session at a hospital to determine whether local agents had contracted the virus while assisting with the rally, according to two other people with knowledge of the testing. As part of the arrangement, doctors administered the test to both agents and some local officials in parked cars outside the hospital.

Among those who got tested was U.S. Attorney Trent Shores of the Northern District of Oklahoma, who had attended both planning meetings with advance staff and the rally in case any legal issues arose, said spokeswoman Lennea Montandon. Shores tested negative, she said.

It is still unknown how the rally may have affected Tulsa’s count of coronavirus cases, which are rising swiftly. Tulsa County hit a record Wednesday, with 259 new confirmed cases, part of “steep upward trends” seen across Oklahoma, said Bruce Dart, director of Tulsa’s health department, at a news conference Wednesday.

The move by the Secret Service to try to limit the spread of the infection shows how Trump’s decision to go forward with the rally increased the health risks and burden on the people who protect the president, former agents said.

A Secret Service spokeswoman declined to comment on how many of its employees have tested positive or were quarantined, but said the Tulsa event has not affected the agency’s ability to do its job.

“The U.S. Secret Service remains prepared and staffed to fulfill all of the various duties as required,” agency spokeswoman Catherine Milhoan said in a statement.

“To protect the privacy of our employees’ health information and for operational security, the Secret Service is not releasing how many of its employees have tested positive for COVID-19, nor how many of its employees were, or currently are, quarantined,” she added.

White House spokesman Judd Deere did not directly answer questions about whether the president regretted the trip or if it increased the exposure risks for the agency, White House staff or himself.

“The President takes the health and safety of everyone traveling in support of himself and all White House operations very seriously,” Deere said in a statement. “When preparing for and carrying out any travel, White House Operations collaborates with the Physician to the President and the White House Military Office, to ensure plans incorporate current CDC guidance and best practices for limiting COVID-19 exposure to the greatest extent possible.”

The Trump campaign hoped the Tulsa trip would rally supporters in the heavily red state of Oklahoma amid polls showing an increasing number of voters concerned about the president’s handling of the pandemic, a stall in the economy and racial unrest over police violence against black Americans.

Dart, the city’s top health official, had said before Saturday’s gathering that he was worried it could become a “super spreader” event and recommended it be postponed.

On Wednesday, Dart said the number of confirmed cases rose 92% in the week leading up to the event. Hospitalizations rose 133% among people ages 18 to 35.

Dart did not say if any new confirmed cases were directly linked to Trump’s rally or the street protests the event drew. But the Tulsa Health Department is recommending anyone who attended Trump’s rally or the protests that day to get tested and monitor themselves for symptoms of the virus.