GOP Presidential Candidate Herman Cain Hospitalized With COVID-19 After Attending Trump Tulsa Rally

Former 2012 presidential candidate Herman Cain was admitted into an Atlanta-area hospital on Wednesday due to COVID-19 symptoms, less than two weeks after attending President Donald Trump‘s indoor rally in Tulsa, Okla.

According to a statement on his Twitter, Cain tested positive for the virus on Monday, nine days after the rally, and by Wednesday “had developed symptoms serious enough that he required hospitalization.”

The statement said Cain did not need a respirator, and was “awake and alert.”

“There is no way of knowing for sure how or where Mr. Cain contracted the coronavirus, but we do know he is a fighter who has beaten Stage 4 cancer,” the statement said. As a 74-year-old cancer survivor, Cain is at a higher risk of contracting COVID-19 and complications from the virus.

Cain has been outspoken about his opposition to face masks on social media. On Wednesday, Cain tweeted a story about Trump’s upcoming Mt. Rushmore event, celebrating the fact that masks will not be mandatory. “PEOPLE ARE FED UP!” he wrote in the caption.

At Trump’s rally on June 20, Cain posed for a photo without a mask, surrounded by people.

“Here’s just a few of the #BlackVoicesForTrump at tonight’s rally! Having a fantastic time!” he wrote in the post.

At least eight members of Trump’s team working the Tulsa event have contracted COVID-19, including two secret service members. Most people at the event did not wear masks nor social distance, though masks were handed out and hand sanitizer stations were set up.

Cain, who had been the CEO of Godfather’s pizza, had been nominated by Trump to serve on the Federal Reserve Board in 2019, but the nomination was withdrawn after several Republican senators said they would not approve him because it could reignite past allegations of sexual misconduct.

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