4 people at RNC in Charlotte test positive for COVID, as GOP defends safety measures
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 respond to questions on whether the orders were followed.
It is not clear how many people at the RNC might have been exposed to the coronavirus. Almost 800 people were tested by the local hospital systems for the event.
The two infected attendees drove themselves home while self-isolating, GOP spokeswoman Blair Ellis said. That action aligns with the joint guidelines from the RNC, the county and local hospitals.
The RNC protocol states: “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.
Ultimately, infections were to be expected when bring that many people together from across the country, according to Dana Rice, a public health professor at UNC Chapel Hill.
“I’m not sure it could’ve been avoided, unless you didn’t bring people together in a room,” she said. “That was a decision that the RNC made not taking into consideration all of the public health warnings and messaging that has been out there.”
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.
A scaled-down event
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 advisor 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.”
Rapid tests ahead of the RNC
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.
When delegates arrived in Charlotte last week, they were tested for the virus upon registration and had regular symptom checks. Support staff from the surrounding community were also tested, 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. Delegates also wore special badges that recorded who they came into contact with and for how long — making it easier for health officials to quell possible outbreaks.
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. Additionally, delegates were free to travel between their test in Charlotte and when they received their results.
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.
Concerns over guidelines
At the Monday convention in the Richardson Ballroom in the Charlotte Convention Center, many attendees did not wear masks.
When reporters in the room asked staff why public health requirements were not being enforced, staff said that they were enforcing them. Still, large numbers of delegates in the room were not wearing masks, gathering in a small groups and milling about the room.
The delegates were seated at individual 6-foot tables for most of the official business of the convention.
Midway through Monday’s events, Harris reached out to RNC organizers with concerns about adherence to public health guidelines. She said she was assured that RNC staff would enforce them.
Shortly after, delegates swiftly converged near the stage of the Richardson Ballroom as President Donald Trump came to the podium for a surprise speech. Attendees, packed close to one another, danced the YMCA after the speech concluded — with many still not wearing face coverings.
When asked why they allowed delegates to do this, an RNC staff member said that that was the purview of the U.S. Secret Service. The Secret Service did not reply to a request for comment.
Officials concern
The RNC agreed to enforce mask-wearing at the event, but even before the convention happened, officials were concerned about the enforcement of the mandate.
Dr. Elizabeth Tilson, the state’s public health director, sent a letter to the RNC on Aug. 6 asking who would enforce the mask mandate. The RNC replied the next day that staff and private security would be responsible.
“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, on Friday.
The positive tests from the RNC add to ongoing concern about the safety of Republican campaign events nationwide.
A July fireworks event at South Dakota’s Mount Rushmore attended by President Donald Trump attracted thousands, but local health officials said that no outbreak was sparked by that event.
At Trump’s RNC acceptance speech at the White House on Thursday, masks and tests were not required for the crowd of roughly one thousand.
U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, an N.C. Republican up for re-election in November, apologized Friday for not wearing a mask at part of the White House event.
Both the White House and Mount Rushmore events were outdoors, though, where experts say infection is much more unlikely. The RNC in Charlotte was conducted indoors, in hotel and convention center ballrooms.
