--- description: Oklahoma health officials reported record number of COVID-19 cases, three weeks after President Trump held a controversial rally in Tulsa. title: Three Weeks After Trump's Tulsa Rally, Oklahoma Reports Record High COVID-19 Numbers image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt68aad92af5bc3511/698a103716d8840bf8c38631/oklahoma-covid-19-trump-tulsa-rally-2.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Oklahoma](/tag/oklahoma/) ## Oklahoma Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Three Weeks After Trump's Tulsa Rally, Oklahoma Reports Record High COVID-19 Numbers  by [Madeleine Carlisle](/author/madeleine-carlisle/)  ## Madeleine Carlisle Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 11, 2020 7:51 PM CUT  President Donald Trump speaks during a rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, U.S., on Saturday, June 20, 2020. President Donald Trump speaks during a rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, U.S., on Saturday, June 20, 2020.Go Nakamura/Bloomberg—Getty Images  by [Madeleine Carlisle](/author/madeleine-carlisle/)  ## Madeleine Carlisle Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 11, 2020 7:51 PM CUT Oklahoma health officials reported record number of COVID-19 cases in the state this week, three weeks after President Donald Trump [held a controversial rally](https://time.com/5856614/trump-campaign-election-tulsa-rally/ "undefined") in Tulsa, Okla., on June 20. On Saturday, the Oklahoma State Department of Health (OSDH) [reported](https://coronavirus.health.ok.gov/ "undefined") 687 new COVID-19 cases had been confirmed in the last 24 hours. It was the second highest increase only coming after Tuesday’s 858 confirmed cases,[ per the Oklahoman.](http://oklahoman.com/article/5666573/coronavirus-in-oklahoma-687-new-cases-reported? "undefined") As of Saturday afternoon ET, Oklahoma had at least 19,779 confirmed cases of the virus, according to OSDH. [According to a reporter](https://twitter.com/KOCODillon/status/1281982647913390080?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw "undefined") for local news channel KOCO 5, the seven-day average of COVID-19 cases is nearly six times what it was in early April. Officials also reported five new COVID-19 related deaths on Saturday. There have been at least 421 confirmed deaths in total from the virus in the state, according to OSDH. > [](https://twitter.com/KOCODillon/status/1281982647913390080) Oklahoma began re-opening its economy in late April and [entered phase three in early June](https://www.tulsaworld.com/news/oklahoma-to-begin-phase-3-of-reopening-monday-after-covid-19-data-shows-promising-downward/article%5F542617ce-c9e8-5825-bfdd-db6796999793.html "undefined"). Retail stores, restaurants, bars and entertainment venues are open under certain guidelines. The surge of new cases comes just weeks after President Trump held a campaign rally in an indoor arena in Tulsa, where many of the attendees [reportedly](https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/503752-most-trump-rally-attendees-opt-not-to-wear-face-masks "undefined") did not wear masks. The event was criticized as being unsafe and a local newspaper [ran an editorial](https://www.tulsaworld.com/opinion/editorials/tulsa-world-editorial-this-is-the-wrong-time-and-tulsa-is-the-wrong-place-for/article%5F26388374-1747-5120-bc01-24b81c1b0c78.html "undefined") asking the President not to hold the rally. On the day of the event, it was [revealed that six staffers](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-06-20/six-staffers-at-trump-rally-in-tulsa-test-positive-for-covid-19 "undefined") on the Trump campaign tested positive for the coronavirus. In the following weeks Tulsa County has seen [a sharp increase](https://www.tulsa-health.org/COVID19 "undefined") in the number of COVID-19 cases in the area. As of Saturday afternoon ET, the county has at least 5,005 confirmed cases, [according to the Tulsa Health Department.](https://www.tulsa-health.org/COVID19 "undefined") On Wednesday, Dr. Bruce Dart, the director of the Tulsa Health Department, said the President’s rally and subsequent protests “likely contributed” to the rise in COVID-19 cases in the county,[ per the Associated Press.](https://apnews.com/ad96548245e186382225818d8dc416eb "undefined") “In the past few days, we’ve seen almost 500 new cases, and we had several large events just over two weeks ago, so I guess we just connect the dots,” Dart said on Wednesday, according to the AP. The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to TIME’s request for comment. But Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh told the AP that the campaign took numerous steps to keep the rally’s attendees safe. “There were literally no health precautions to speak of as thousands looted, rioted and protested in the streets and the media reported that it did not lead to a rise in coronavirus cases,” Murtaugh said in a statement to the AP on Wednesday. “Meanwhile, the President’s rally was 18 days ago, all attendees had their temperature checked, everyone was provided a mask and there was plenty of hand sanitizer available for all…It’s obvious that the media’s concern about large gatherings begins and ends with Trump rallies.” A week after the rally, [the Washington _Post_ reported](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/workers-removed-thousands-of-social-distancing-stickers-before-trumps-tulsa-rally-according-to-video-and-a-person-familiar-with-the-set-up/2020/06/27/f429c3be-b801-11ea-9b0f-c797548c1154%5Fstory.html "undefined") that the Trump campaign had removed thousands of stickers within the arena placed to promote social distancing during the event. New York, New Jersey and Connecticut announced on Tuesday that all visitors coming from Oklahoma [must quarantine for 14 days.](https://coronavirus.health.ny.gov/covid-19-travel-advisory?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIkoeNrOfF6gIVAq%5FICh3TFAUjEAAYASAAEgIeNPD%5FBwE "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5865890/oklahoma-covid-19-trump-tulsa-rally/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5865890/oklahoma-covid-19-trump-tulsa-rally/"},"headline":"Three Weeks After Trump's Tulsa Rally, Oklahoma Reports Record High COVID-19 Numbers","datePublished":"2020-07-11T19:51:31.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T08:59:37.243Z","description":"Local reports say the seven-day average of COVID-19 cases is nearly six times what it was in early April","url":"https://time.com/5865890/oklahoma-covid-19-trump-tulsa-rally/","keywords":["Oklahoma","COVID-19","News Desk"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt68aad92af5bc3511/698a103716d8840bf8c38631/oklahoma-covid-19-trump-tulsa-rally-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Madeleine Carlisle","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/madeleine-carlisle/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt68aad92af5bc3511/698a103716d8840bf8c38631/oklahoma-covid-19-trump-tulsa-rally-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"oklahoma covid-19 trump tulsa rally","caption":"oklahoma covid-19 trump tulsa rally","creditText":"Go Nakamura/Bloomberg—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/oklahoma/","name":"Oklahoma"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5865890/oklahoma-covid-19-trump-tulsa-rally/","name":"Three Weeks After Trump's Tulsa Rally, Oklahoma Reports Record High COVID-19 Numbers"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"At Tulsa Rally, Trump Suggests U.S. Slow Down Coronavirus Testing to Avoid Bad Statistics","description":"President Donald Trump said Saturday he’s asked his administration to slow down coronavirus testing because robust testing turns up too many cases of COVID-19.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/3IJgCMqu/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2020-06-21T14:49:08.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/3IJgCMqu.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5865890/oklahoma-covid-19-trump-tulsa-rally/","duration":"PT1M8S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5865890/oklahoma-covid-19-trump-tulsa-rally/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```