Des Moines mayor says he’s worried about coronavirus spread at Trump rally

The mayor of Des Moines, Iowa, said he is worried that President Trump’s campaign rally in Des Moines this week could be responsible for spreading COVID-19 in the city.

Asked by the Des Moines Register whether he is concerned that the event could accelerate the spread of COVID-19 in Des Moines, Mayor Frank Cownie (D) said he “absolutely” was.

“Absolutely I’m worried about the spread. We don’t want a super-spread event here in Des Moines,” Cownie told the newspaper. “We urge everyone who would attend this event to wear a mask and social distance as best they can, and to stay safe and healthy.”

“We all have to do everything we can do to keep our numbers down,” he continued. “It’s proven, it’s scientific facts.”

The Trump campaign stressed in a statement to The Hill that attendees would be given temperature checks before being allowed in to the event.

“The event is at an open door airplane hangar where people will be expressing their First Amendment rights and hearing from the President of the United States. We will have safety protocols in place. All attendees will be given a temperature check, masks which they are instructed to wear, and access to hand sanitizer,” Tim Murtaugh told The Hill.

The president’s return to the campaign trail comes just days after his release from the hospital, a days-long stay at Walter Reed Medical Center for treatment of COVID-19 that occurred amid a breakout of the virus among White House staffers and visitors at a recent event where Trump announced the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court.

Cownie’s comments also come the same day as Axios reported that Trump has instructed his aides to put him out on the campaign trail every day between now and the election, a physically demanding strategy that one adviser warned could “kill” the 74-year-old president as he recovers from the debilitating virus.

Des Moines has seen its rate of new COVID-19 cases rise in recent weeks, and on Saturday reported just over 1,000 new cases.