President Donald Trump To Hold Outdoor Rally In NH Following Criticism Of Previous Events
President Donald Trump will host a rally at the Portsmouth International Airport in New Hampshire next weekend, his campaign announced on Sunday. In a shift from recent events — which were criticized for their failure to follow social distancing guidelines with attendees largely not wearing protective face masks — the Trump campaign will be taking extra steps to protect supporters at the rally on Saturday, July 11, which will be held outdoors.
The campaign announced that masks will be provided for all attendees and hand sanitizer will also be readily accessible, in keeping with efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19.
“We look forward to so many freedom-loving patriots coming to the rally and celebrating America, the greatest country in the history of the world,” said Hogan Gidley, Trump 2020’s National Press Secretary.
At Trump’s campaign stop in Tulsa, Oklahoma and his event on July 3 at the Mount Rushmore National Memorial in Keystone, South Dakota, organizers and attendees not only failed to take steps that have been recommended by epidemiologists to help keep people safe amid the ongoing pandemic, but — in some cases — have actively railed against them.
As relayed previously by The Inquisitr, medical journalist, doctor and infectious disease expert Celine Gounder decried Trump’s decision to hold the Mount Rushmore rally as “beyond irresponsible” given the recent spike of coronavirus case numbers around the U.S., as well as South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem’s decision not to enforce social distancing.
Gounder likened Trump to a cult leader who “is jumping off the cliff, except he’s jumping off into a safety net where he has protections around him. People around him are being tested. He’s being tested on a regular basis. While he asks his followers to jump off a cliff into nothing,”
According to data from the Centers for Disease Control, the number of new confirmed cases of COVID-19 infection in the U.S. topped 50,000 in each of the previous four days — by far the worst stretch of the pandemic.
Trump received similar criticism for his Tulsa rally, which was held indoors against the advice of medical experts and attended by a crowd that largely didn’t adhere to coronavirus safety protocols. Among those who attended the event without wearing a mask was former Republican presidential candidate and Trump supporter Herman Cain, who later tested positive for COVID-19.
Multiple Trump staffers in Tulsa and a journalist who covered the rally there have also tested positive following the event.
