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The message from Tulsa’s top government officials on Wednesday was not comforting. Just days before President Trump was set to hold an enormous indoor rally expected to bring tens of thousands of people to the city, the officials announced 96 new cases of the coronavirus, the largest single-day increase in Tulsa since March. And they offered little in terms of reassurance to residents worried about holding a large, charged, political gathering in the midst of a pandemic and on a weekend when demonstrations are planned across the country to honor Juneteenth. (Karni, 6/17)

Officials in Tulsa, Okla., said coronavirus cases and hospitalizations are surging and advised people who are vulnerable to COVID-19 to stay home rather than attend President Trump's campaign rally on Saturday. Tulsa Health Department Director Bruce Dart and Mayor G.T. Bynum (R) said people who attend any large gathering, including the Trump rally and the city's Juneteenth celebration, will likely be at risk, especially if they don't wear masks. (Weixel, 6/17)

Several U.S. states including Oklahoma reported a surge in new coronavirus infections on Wednesday, days before a planned campaign rally for President Donald Trump in Tulsa that would be the nation’s largest indoor social gathering in three months. An uptick in coronavirus cases in many states over the past two weeks, along with rising COVID-19 hospitalizations, reflected a troubling national trend that has seen daily U.S. infection numbers climbing after more than a month of declines. (Shumaker and Schwartz, 6/17)

The mayor of Tulsa said Wednesday that it was “an honor” to welcome President Trump for a campaign rally this weekend despite a recommendation from the city’s health director to postpone the event because of coronavirus concerns and calls by city leaders to cancel it. G.T. Bynum, a Republican, told a news conference that “I’m not positive that everything is safe” and urged residents who planned to attend Trump’s Saturday night gathering to wear masks and take other precautions. Bynum said he would not be attending the rally but would greet Trump at the airport. He added that the company managing the venue has “sole discretion” on whether to host the event and that “it’s not my decision to make.” (Partlow, Gowen and Brown, 6/17)

Supporters attending President Donald Trump’s rallies “assume a personal risk” related to coronavirus, The White House said on Wednesday. “When you come to the rally, as with any event, you assume a personal risk. That is just what you do,” press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said at a news briefing, while noting there would be temperature checks at Trump’s rally on Saturday in Tulsa, Okla., as well as distribution of hand sanitizers and masks. (Cohen, 6/17)

Former presidential contender Bernie Sanders on Wednesday blasted President Donald Trump’s decision to host a large rally in Oklahoma this weekend, accusing the Republican president of jeopardizing the health of thousands of people and defying science during a pandemic simply “to hear cheers from his supporters.” Sanders, who is also known for drawing large crowds and has promised to help presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, said he would not be willing to host any large indoor events of his own until medical professionals deem it safe. (Peoples, 6/17)

Brad Parscale, the Trump campaign manager, needed to find a host city for the president’s triumphant return to the campaign trail, and he didn’t have much time. Reviewing a list of potential locations over the past few weeks, Mr. Parscale quickly settled on Tulsa, Okla., people familiar with the planning said in interviews, mostly because it seemed easy. A deep red state President Trump carried by 36 percentage points four years ago, Oklahoma wasn’t in play for the November election. But it was the furthest along of any state in the country in terms of reopening, and it had seen fewer than 400 Covid-19 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic. (Karni, Haberman and Epstein, 6/18)

Meanwhile, Biden, his presumptive Democratic opponent, has made a much more methodical return to the trail -- wearing masks while near others and practicing social distancing as he follows the guidance of public health officials and a team of doctors and experts his campaign has assembled, while forgoing in-person events that are open to the public. (Bradner, Daenz and Mucha, 6/17)

President Donald Trump said on Wednesday the United States would not close businesses again as several states reported rising numbers of new coronavirus infections. “We won’t be closing the country again. We won’t have to do that,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News Channel. Trump’s comments come after White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin both said the United States could not shut down the economy again. (6/17)

Vice President Mike Pence says the U.S. response to the coronavirus pandemic is “a cause for celebration,” but a new poll finds more than half of Americans calling it fair or poor. The Gallup and West Health survey out Thursday found that 57% of U.S. adults rated the national response to COVID-19 as fair or poor, particularly in light of the fact that America has the world’s most expensive health care system. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 6/18)