Sen. James Lanford, R-Okla, on Wednesday warned susceptible populations from attending President Donald Trump's rally in Tulsa this weekend over coronavirus concerns.
"The president is always welcome to be able to come to Oklahoma, same thing with any president is welcome to be able to come to Oklahoma," Lankford said during an appearance on MSNBC's "Morning Joe." "I am fully aware a lot of the nation is looking at Oklahoma right now saying I can't believe they are holding a political rally."
"Our restaurants have been open. Our retail has been open for seven weeks now. We're way ahead of a lot of the other areas of the country. We've seen an increase in numbers over the last five days or so. We think that is — that was expected.
"We're advising people if they're coming to the rally, if you have co-morbidities, if you are older, or you have other health issues, don't come. Watch it on TV."
"The hard part about it, and I've tried to explain this to other folks, when you're at a large gathering like that, as you know, it's hard to be able to hear sometimes," he added. "So there's going to be times they are going to pull masks on and off. That's why I really encourage people if you have other health issues, I discourage you from coming to the event."
Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale last week said 300,000 had applied for Trump's rally at the BOK Center. Trump has since said almost 1 million have applied.
Parscale also tweeted rallygoers would undergo temperature checks and receive face masks and hand sanitizer before entering the venue.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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