After Trump's Tulsa rally dozens of secret service agents asked to quarantine

The United States Secret Service officers who attended President Donald Trump's rally in Tulsa on June 20 have been asked to quarantine after two staffers tested positive for coronavirus. According to the Washington Post, the officials and agents have been asked to quarantine for 14 days as a precautionary measure, especially those who worked on the event in Oklahoma. On the morning of Trump's rally, six White House staffers, including two Secret Service agents tested positive for coronavirus, stoking fears that the virus could spread inside the presidential house. 

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The new cases emerging from inside the White House have led to the decision that Secret Service agents must now be tested regularly before every presidential trip. As per reports, Secret Service agents received an email saying that they must now be tested 24 to 48 hours before presidential trips. To protect the privacy of Secret Service personnel, the agency has not released how many of its agents have or had tested positive for the virus, nor how many were or are under quarantine. 

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Donald Trump was warned by health experts who had said that holding a rally amidst the coronavirus outbreak could be dangerous. Top CDC official Dr. Anthony Fauci had also warned against organizing a rally amidst the pandemic saying it could be 'risky'. However, the president ignored all the warnings and decided to go on with the pre-election rally that eventually disappointed him as the arena with a capacity of over 19,000 couldn't be filled even half. As per media reports, no social distancing norms, face-covering guidelines were followed by Trump supporters in the rally.

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COVID-19 in the US

The United States is currently the worst affected country in the world with over 2.3 million coronavirus cases. According to figures by Johns Hopkins University, the United States has recorded more than 1,21,000 deaths as of June 24, of which New York remains the worst-hit region with over 31,000 deaths, followed by New Jersey with over 13,000 deaths. Meanwhile, the world is nearing 10 million coronavirus cases and 5,00,000 deaths. 

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(Image Credit: AP)