All of President Donald Trump’s campaign staffers who attended his rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Saturday are quarantining this week after interacting with several colleagues who later tested positive for coronavirus, CNN has learned.
“As a precaution staff who made the trip to Tulsa are working remotely, and they will be tested and return working to the office after that,” said Tim Murtaugh, communications director for the Trump campaign, in a call with reporters.
After eight staffers tested positive, several of the campaign’s top officials decided to quarantine for the week instead of going into the office, two sources familiar with the situation told CNN. Staff had only recently returned to the office after months of working from home because of coronavirus restrictions.
White House staff who attended the rally are continuing work as usual and are routinely tested.
The fallout from Trump’s push to hold a rally with thousands of attendees has continued in the days since he returned from Tulsa – and as the nation as a whole remains engulfed by the pandemic. The three most populous states set records for new coronavirus cases daily and there are fears of “apocalyptic” surges in major Texas cities if the trend continues.
Coronavirus has killed at least 121,979 people and infected nearly 2.4 million nationwide, according to Johns Hopkins.
Florida and Texas announced Wednesday that they’d recorded more than 5,000 new Covid-19 cases the prior day, a new daily record. California reported more than 7,000 cases, obliterating a record hit a day earlier.
On Wednesday night, CNN confirmed that multiple Secret Service officers were also instructed to self-quarantine after two of their colleagues who were on site for the rally tested positive.
The mass quarantine has led to the decision that Secret Service agents involved with presidential trips must be tested for coronavirus for the next couple of weeks, according to an email sent to agency personnel. The email sent out Wednesday was confirmed by the law enforcement official. Agents must now be tested 24 to 48 hours before a presidential trip, the email said. The new testing mandate will be in place until July 4.
The law enforcement official said the number of quarantined agents is on the “low” side of dozens. A Secret Service official said the quarantining will not impact the agency’s operations. The news was first reported by The Washington Post.
Asked about the decision to test all agents on presidential trips for coronavirus, the Secret Service official said protecting agency personnel is critical during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We want to make sure that we have a healthy workforce and that we are protecting our people,” the official said. “This is good common sense.”
Several of the campaign’s surrogates who traveled to Tulsa have also undergone coronavirus testing out of an abundance of caution, two sources said.
Many of the surrogates – including lawmakers, former lawmakers and campaign advisers – traveled on a chartered plane together without wearing masks.
Trump’s campaign had urged many of them to come so the President could have a show of force for his return to the campaign trail.
CNN’s Jim Acosta, Paul LeBlanc and Faith Karimi contributed to this report.
This story has been updated with additional context on who is quarantining.