Prior to President Trump’s Tulsa rally, health experts articulated their concerns about the large gathering, which they said could possibly become a “super spreader” event.
Now, former Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain has contracted COVID-19 and subsequently been hospitalized in Atlanta, less than two weeks after attending the rally, CNN reports.
“On Monday, June 29, Herman Cain was informed that he had tested positive for COVID-19. By Wednesday, July 1, Mr. Cain had developed symptoms serious enough that he required hospitalization,” a statement shared on Cain's Twitter account said on Thursday. “He spent the past night in the hospital and as of today, Thursday, July 2, he is resting comfortably in an Atlanta-area hospital. Mr. Cain did not require a respirator, and he is awake and alert.”
The 74-year-old is in a demographic that is at high-risk to contract the virus. Cain later shared a photo of himself at the rally on June 20, where he and other attendees weren’t wearing masks. While masks were being distributed at the event, they weren’t mandatory.
Trump campaign officials told CBS News that Cain sat in a section designated for members of the president’s “Black Voices for Trump” advisory board, who are pictured in Cain’s Twitter photo. Officials said that Cain didn’t come into direct contact with Trump.
“Contact tracing was conducted after the Tulsa rally but we do not comment regarding the medical information of individuals. Regardless, Mr. Cain did not meet with the president,” Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh said in a statement.
The statement shared to Cain’s Twitter said that “there is no way of knowing for sure how or where Mr. Cain contracted the coronavirus” since he had traveled to Arizona after the rally, a state that is seeing a major uptick in cases. Cain previously survived stage 4 colon cancer, which was diagnosed in 2006.
In an op-ed for the Western Journal, Cain shared his experience at the rally, writing that while reports said that only 6,200 were in attendance, he “saw with my own eyes that there were at least 16,000 people there.”
“Yes, there were some empty seats in the nosebleed sections, but 16,000 people in the COVID-19 era is pretty impressive,” he wrote. “I’ve had about enough of the media telling us this rally was some sort of bust. It was triumphant and electric," Cain wrote. "Everyone who attended came away from it feeling good.”
It appears that even though Cain has been hospitalized after being in close proximity to thousands of people during a pandemic, he still doesn't believe in face masks. On Wednesday, the 2012 Republican presidential candidate tweeted, “Masks will not be mandatory for the event, which will be attended by President Trump. PEOPLE ARE FED UP!” in regards to South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem not requiring masks be worn during a major Mount Rushmore Independence Day event this weekend. Cain apparently shared his grievance from his hospital bed.
