Everyone at Trump’s Republican Convention to be tested daily for coronavirus, organisers announce

‘We’re going to have temperature checks, we’re going to sanitise’

Every attendee at Jacksonville’s Republican National Convention will be tested daily for coronavirus, organisers have said.

The convention is in part being hosted at a 15,000-person arena in Jacksonville, Florida, and will see President Donald Trump formally accept the Republican nomination for the 2020 election.

“Everyone attending the convention within the perimeter will be tested and temperature checked each day,” Erin Isaac, the spokesperson for the host committee of the Jacksonville portion of the convention told CNN.

Ms Isaac confirmed that each person will receive an actual coronavirus test rather than just a basic health screening such as a temperature check.

A party official said the GOP will clarify more information on how the testing and health protocols will work before the convention next month.

The news comes as Florida continues to see a record spike in infections, with the number of confirmed coronavirus cases rising by a record 11,458 on Saturday, according to the state’s health department, the second time in three days that the caseload has increased by more than 10,000.

Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr Stephen Hahn told CNN on Sunday that it is “too early to tell” whether the sunshine state will be a safe place for the convention in light of the escalating pandemic.

“I think it’s too early to tell,” Dr Hahn, who is a member of the coronavirus task force, told CNN’s State of the Union. “We’ll have to see how this unfolds in Florida and around the country.”

A spokesperson for the convention has insisted that stringent measures will be in place throughout the weekend.

“We are planning to offer health precautions including but not limited to temperature checks, available PPE, aggressive sanitising protocols, and available Covid-19 testing,” Republican National Committee (RNC) spokesman Michael Ahrens said in a statement to The Hill.

“We have a great working relationship with local leadership in Jacksonville and the state of Florida, and we will continue to coordinate with them in the months ahead.”

RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel also previously told Fox News that everyone attending the convention would be tested.

“We’re going to test everybody,” she said. “We’re going to have temperature checks, we’re going to sanitise.”

The US currently has over 2.9 million confirmed cases of the novel respiratory disease, having recorded more than 130,000 deaths, according to data from the Johns Hopkins University.