Thousands headed to indoor Trump rally, raising virus fears

Tens of thousands of people from many states are converging on Tulsa for an indoor rally and other campaign events Saturday for President Donald Trump, raising concerns that the gatherings could help fuel nascent spikes of coronavirus cases in many places.

State and city health department officials were already bracing for a possible surge in COVID-19 cases from large outdoor demonstrations against police brutality held across the country. Now the Trump rally — at an indoor arena that can hold 19,000 people and is expected to be at capacity — is shaping up to be the first indoor event of such a massive scale since the coronavirus pandemic took hold and many states issued stay-at-home orders. Tulsa has seen the largest increase in cases in Oklahoma in recent days, and several bordering states, including Arkansas, have seen spikes in community spread of the virus in recent weeks.

“I think there's no question that indoor events are more risky than outdoor events. But we don’t really know how big that difference is. And certainly other aspects, like how tightly packed things are ... will make a big difference,” said Justin Lessler, an associate professor of epidemiology at John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Lessler said large events like the rally or the protests have the “potential to be super spreader events,” but their potential to drive the pandemic is short-lived.

“The larger factor is what happens when people go home," he said. "If everybody goes home and doesn’t respect the social distancing factors and goes out into the community, then they could push the spread.”

Tulsa County health officials have said they are particularly concerned about the event at the BOK Center because of a recent spike in cases: Oklahoma set a high for new cases last Thursday, with 450, and Tulsa saw 125...