FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Thursday, October 29, 2020
CONTACT: Liz Doherty
COVID-19 Case Linked to Dan Forest Rally, Debunking Forest’s Claims There Hasn’t Been “A Single Instance”
BURNSVILLE — Last night, ABC11 broke news that a COVID-19 case has been linked to Dan Forest’s rally on October 15th.
Cooper for NC released the following statement in response, “This unfortunate development is the result of Dan Forest routinely putting people in harm’s way for months. We hope anyone diagnosed with COVID recovers. But especially right now North Carolinians deserve better from their leaders.”
Forest has touted that there have been no COVID-19 cases tied to his campaign events…
BUT AS RECENTLY AS YESTERDAY, Dan Forest said “They [campaign event attendees] come to these events, nobody’s forcing them to be there. And ya know no outbreaks anywhere and all these kinds of things.”
AND, on the morning of the rally, October 15th, Dan Forest said “Not a single instance of a test positive from anybody I know that’s ever been at one of our events.”
Forest has also repeatedly bragged about the number of people that attended his Burnsville rally, claiming that 4,000 people attended the event:
- The day after the rally, Forest’s campaign manager bragged about the crowd size in an email, “Burnsville is a town of 1,700 in Yancey county. We had 4,000 people in attendance!”
- The day after the rally, Forest posted on Facebook, “In a town of 1,800 out in WNC, over 4,000 showed up to #BacktheBlue with Dan Forest, Madison Cawthorn for Congress and Mark Robinson for N.C.!”
- Two days after the rally, Team Forest HQ tweeted, “In a town of 1,800 out in #WNC, over 4,000 showed up to #BacktheBlue with @DanForestNC, @CawthornforNC, @markrobinsonNC!”
- On October 16th, Dan Forest posted on Instagram, “In a town of 1,800 out in WNC, over 4,000 showed up to #BacktheBlue with Dan Forest, @madisoncawthorn and @markrobinsonfornc!”
- Just five days ago, Dan Forest posted a video of the event on Instagram. He continued to brag about the crowd size, “In a town of 1,800 – OVER 4,000 patriots showed up to #BacktheBlue and support Dan Forest for Governor, @madisoncawthorn for NC-11 and @markrobinsonfornc.”
THE COVERAGE:
- ABC11: “COVID-19 case linked to GOP rally featuring Dan Forest on first day of early voting in Yancey County,” October 28, 2020.
- AP: “Health officials confirm COVID-19 case at Dan Forest rally,” By Tom Foreman Jr., October 28, 2020.
- News and Observer: “COVID-19 case may be connected to Lt. Gov. Dan Forest campaign event, DHHS says,” By Lucille Sherman, October 28, 2020.
- WRAL: “Coronavirus case linked to GOP rally in western NC,” October 28, 2020.
Forest has shown no signs of stopping his dangerous campaign strategy of putting people in harm’s way. Since the October 15th campaign rally, he has held or attended numerous in-person campaign events with no masks or social distancing, including a Trump rally where two attendees have tested positive for COVID-19.
###