COVID-19 case may be connected to Lt. Gov. Dan Forest campaign event, DHHS says
A person who attended a campaign rally in Burnsville earlier this month has tested positive for COVID-19, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services said Wednesday.
The department did not identify the candidate connected to the rally, but Lt. Gov. Dan Forest’s campaign’s Facebook page indicates the Republican gubernatorial candidate held an event in the Yancey County town Oct. 15, the same day the health department said the person attended a rally.
Andrew Dunn, a Forest campaign spokesperson, said in a statement that they wish a “speedy recovery” to the person who has COVID-19 but objected to the release of the contact tracing information.
“We have had no communication from DHHS on this and only learned of it from what they leaked to the media,” Dunn said. “Dr. Mandy Cohen has repeatedly stated that all tracing and tracking is confidential and pandemics are not political, but I guess that does not apply to us six days before an election.”
The state health department has been releasing information on outbreaks and clusters of cases for several months, including at nursing homes, local detention centers and day care centers.
The health department last week released a new report that identifies the general locations of coronavirus clusters, including workplaces, food and beverage and retail, religious gatherings and social gatherings. The weekly report, released every Monday, includes rallies under the heading of “community event,” a category that also includes concerts and festivals. As of Monday, one cluster and 26 cases were reported, according to DHHS.
A cluster is considered five or more cases that can be traced to a certain location. But the cluster reports are considered incomplete and date back to May 22, except for meat and poultry processing plants, whose outbreaks were tracked beginning in April.
Yancey County in the western part of the state. The county has reported 317 coronavirus cases since the pandemic began, and no deaths, according to data on the DHHS website Wednesday.
Rallies held
Forest has held several indoor and outdoor campaign events throughout the state with photos and videos showing him defying the coronavirus restrictions put in place by his challenger, Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper. The photos show few people wearing masks or social distancing.
Forest has frequently criticized Cooper’s coronavirus response, saying wearing masks should be left up to individuals, The News & Observer reported. He has said he would not require masks, which has been a North Carolina mandate since June 24. He also has said he would reopen all K-12 schools for in-person daily instruction.
But the Cooper campaign has said Forest’s events are “dangerous,” adding that he would be a “risk” if he is elected as governor, The N&O reported.
“Large gatherings increase the risk of spreading COVID-19,” said health department spokeswoman Kelly Haight Connor in an email to The N&O Wednesday night. “Maintaining social distance, washing hands often and wearing face coverings are the best tools we have to slow the spread (the 3Ws), which is why North Carolina has a mask mandate that everyone, including those at rallies, should follow. People who have attended a mass gathering of any kind, including rallies, are encouraged to get tested for COVID-19.”
Earlier Wednesday, Cooper told reporters at a news conference that coronavirus cases have become concentrated in more rural areas, and he expressed concerns about political rallies in those areas, the N&O reported. He did not mention Forest’s rallies but addressed events held by President Donald Trump’s campaign.
“I’m really concerned about campaigns that fly in all over the place and come into North Carolina, hold these large events, gathering a lot of people together, also bringing in people from out of state, and then leaving,” Cooper said. “North Carolina residents are going to have to deal with this aftermath.”
Jonah Kaplan of ABC11, The News & Observer’s newsgathering partner, first reported the case linked to the campaign event on Twitter Wednesday.
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This story was originally published October 28, 2020 at 6:54 PM.
