President Trump said the Republican National Convention in Jacksonville, Florida, next month could be downsized because of the coronavirus.
Asked if he would consider a smaller convention if cases continue to spike in Florida, Trump said the decision would be dependent on what is happening at the time.
“It really depends on the timing,” Trump said in an interview with Gray Television’s Greta Van Susteren on Tuesday. “Look, we’re very flexible. We can do a lot of things, but we’re very flexible.”
Florida is now a coronavirus epicenter, reporting 7,361 new cases on Tuesday with more than 50 intensive care units stating that they had reached capacity, according to Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration. The four-day event is scheduled for Aug. 24-27, with Trump giving his acceptance speech on the last day.
“We’re always looking at different things,” Trump said of plans for the convention, which moved from North Carolina following a dispute over pandemic safety measures. “When we signed in Jacksonville … a few weeks ago, it looked good, and now all of a sudden it’s spiking up a little bit, and that’s going to go down.”
Convention organizers are expected to release their safety plans for the 15,000 person capacity VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in the coming days.
“Everyone attending the convention within the perimeter will be tested and temperature checked each day,” said Jacksonville host committee spokesperson Erin Isaac in a memo on Monday.
More than 3 million coronavirus cases have been confirmed in the United States, according to Johns Hopkins University, with a new surge in Sunbelt states.
