Health Officials Scold RNC About Masks During Roll Call Vote

Mecklenburg County officials in North Carolina scolded attendees of the Republican National Convention in Charlotte on Monday about the wearing of facial coverings following the roll call vote to nominate President Donald Trump as their 2020 nominee.

Several delegates were seen without masks, which upset Mecklenburg County Health Director Gibbie Harris.

"I have just shared concern about the lack of mask-wearing and social distancing in the room at the RNC Roll Call Meeting with the RNC Convention staff," she said in a statement shared with local ABC network affiliate WSOC-TV.

"I have been assured that they are working hard to address these issues. All attendees agreed to comply with the requirements prior to attending and were informed that these requirements would be enforced."

All county-wide elected officials in Mecklenburg County are Democrats, from the district attorney and the entire board of commissioners to the register of deeds.

WSOC reporter Joe Bruno said Harris added "she hopes the RNC's inability to follow the rules does not result in additional COVID cases in our and their communities. She says the inability to follow the plan will make it more difficult to approve similar requests in the future."

While the entire four-day convention was scheduled for Charlotte, North Carolina's Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper refused to modify coronavirus restrictions to allow the gathering to be staged as desired. While the initial day was to remain in Charlotte for contractual obligations, the remainder of the convention was announced to be moving to Jacksonville, Florida.

However, an increase in the number of new daily cases in Florida resulted in Jacksonville, a mostly Republican-run city, adopting many of the same restrictions as Charlotte. The seven-day average of new daily cases in Florida has steadily dropped since reaching a peak of 11,870 on July 17, to 3,879 as of Sunday, according to Worldometers.info.

Most of the remainder of the Republican convention will be staged virtually from remote locations.

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