Oklahoma has record high daily new COVID-19 cases: Washington Post; Tulsa rally will be a super-spreader event

picture by Open Clip Art Vectors courtesy of pixabay.com

On the eve of the latest campaign rally by He-who-must-not-be-named, Oklahoma has seen a record increase in coronavirus cases.  The Washington Post has daily new case counts broken down by state, and the Oklahoma graph shows an alarming increase over the last three weeks.  On June 18, 450 new cases were reported, whereas on May 30, only 80 were reported.  The graph is here, under Oklahoma.  Scroll down and select “Oklahoma” on the state-by-state breakdown.

These reports should be alarming to anyone who plans to attend this rally.  If you intend to be in the arena (assuming you have gotten a ticket, given that hundreds of thousands have applied) you are likely to be exposed to the virus.  If 20,000 people (the hall’s capacity) are exposed and all of them are infected, then given a case-fatality rate of 1%, 200 will die– a worst-case scenario but not impossible.  If you are planning on being outside to protest, your risks are much more immediate: the president has tweeted a threat to protestors that they will be roughly treated.

Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID), is 79 years old and does not plan to be there.  Rally organizers are planning to hand out face masks and hand sanitizer, but given the political leanings of attendees, it is unlikely that anyone there will wear a face mask.

This morning we heard that Tulsa has announced a curfew for the next two days between ten PM and six AM.  No word on whether those who have gathered early to await seating at the rally will be affected…