Four at GOP convention in Charlotte test positive for COVID-19

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — 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 roll-call 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 “after-action” 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 scaleddown convention for a spectacle once expected to draw more than 50,000 people to the Queen City.