As Trump deadline approaches, N.C. wants more on convention

As Trump deadline approaches, N.C. wants more on convention

SeattlePI.com

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RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina's top health official asked Friday for more details on how GOP leaders will protect attendees of a Republican National Convention this summer during the COVID-19 pandemic.

President Donald Trump has threatened to move his formal renomination elsewhere if he does not soon get guarantees of being able to hold a large-scale event.

In a letter responding to correspondence by convention officials, state Health and Human Services Secretary Mandy Cohen sought more specifics beyond the safety protocols the GOP leaders said they want approved for the August event in Charlotte.

In particular, Cohen asked to confirm whether Trump wanted to hold his nomination event on the convention's final night with “people together in a crowd-like setting" and without social distancing or face masks for participants. The GOP's letter Thursday did not mention such a request, but Cohen said it had been discussed by phone.

Cohen also wanted numbers on how many people would be inside the downtown Charlotte arena where nightly events are slated to be held, and how social distancing would occur within the Spectrum Center.

Right now, Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper's executive order prevents mass indoor assemblies of more than 10 people, but that could change in the weeks leading up to the convention if case and hospitalization numbers keep improving.

“The state continues to support the hosting of the Republican National Convention in Charlotte if it can be done safelty,” Cohen wrote to Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel and convention CEO Marcia Lee Kelly. “We remain committed to working with you on an event that adequately protects both attendees and the people of North Carolina.”

Kelly and McDaniel wrote Cooper on Thursday saying...

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