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UPDATE: President Trump’s campaign has responded to BOK Center officials’ request for a health and safety plan ahead of the ‘Make America Great Again’ rally in Tulsa on Saturday.

The campaign issued the following statement:

“We’ve received a letter from arena management and we’re reviewing it. We take safety seriously, which is why we’re doing temperature checks for everyone attending, and providing masks and hand sanitizer. This will be a Trump rally, which means a big, boisterous, excited crowd. We don’t recall the media shaming demonstrators about social distancing – in fact the media were cheering them on.”

Trump Campaign

The Oklahoma State Department of Health reported 450 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, a 5.1 percent increase and a record high in the state.

The drastic increase in cases comes after more and more Oklahomans started going back out in public.

OSDH officials recently told KFOR that the rise in coronavirus cases is due to community spread.

Oklahoma began its statewide, three-phase reopening in late April.

Also, large-scale protests have been held in Oklahoma since late May, days after George Floyd, an unarmed black man, was killed by white Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.

Dr. Dale Bratzler, the Chief COVID-19 Officer for the University of Oklahoma, said the spike in cases is not related to an increase in COVID-19 testing.

Trump’s rally will be at the BOK Center in Tulsa on Saturday.

The BOK Center has a seating capacity of 19,199, but officials expect around 100,000 people to show up for the rally.

Original Story

TULSA, Okla. (KFOR) – As state leaders prepare for President Donald Trump’s first in-person campaign rally since early March, officials at a Tulsa arena say they need clarification about plans to keep attendees safe at the event.

There has been some concern about the safety of the campaign rally, especially as coronavirus cases climb across Oklahoma.

On Thursday, officials with the BOK Center said they have asked the Trump campaign for a written health and safety plan prior to the rally.

“Given the Tulsa Health Department’s recent reports of increases in coronavirus cases and the State of Oklahoma’s encouragement for event organizers to follow CDC guidelines, we have requested that the Trump campaign, as the event organizer, provide BOK Center with a written plan detailing the steps the event will institute for health and safety, including those related to social distancing.  Once received, we will share the plan with local health officials,” BOK officials told KFOR in a statement.

Officials say the event organizer has already agreed to temperature check attendees, and provide everyone with a mask and hand sanitizer when they get into the building.

The BOK Center says it is encouraging all attendees to wear masks throughout the event until they leave the building.

Officials say they also plan to clean and disinfect high-touch areas throughout the event.