US President Donald Trump. Photo / AP
The megachurch that will play host to Donald Trump's next re-election rally has made a bold claim – on par with the US President's own statements about the coronavirus pandemic – ahead of the event.
In a video uploaded (and since removed) to its Facebook page, Dream City Church in Phoenix, Arizona – a surging coronavirus hotspot – claimed Trump's supporters need not fear catching COVID-19 at tomorrow's rally.
Republicans will be "safe and protected" when they enter the church because it has installed technology that kills "99.9 per cent of COVID within 10 minutes", pastor Luke Barnett and chief operations officer Brendan Zastrow said in the video.
"We've installed clean air EXP. We have a local Arizona company – it was technology developed by some members of our church, and we've installed these units, and it kills 99.9 per cent of COVID within 10 minutes," Zastrow said.
Barnett added the church was "probably the first in the nation" to use the technology.
If you've never heard of "clean air EXP" as a solution to coronavirus – which has infected as many as 2.3 million Americans and killed more than 120,400 – you're not alone.
The pair were likely referring to the air purification company of the same name, whose website similarly claims its air purifiers can eradicate COVID-19 and any other bacteria by "controlling indoor air quality the same way a thermostat controls air temperature".
The system "combines the most sophisticated sensors with the latest air purification technology to clean indoor air of allergens, pathogens, odours, smoke, mould, ozone and harmful chemicals".
The company claims that "lab tests" confirm the claim, noting the system was tested on an "active coronavirus 229E test surrogate".
Coronavirus 229E is better known as the common cold.
Even if the purification system could fulfil its bold claims, it would only be clearing the church auditorium of traces of coronavirus before the event. If a COVID-infected person attended the rally, the technology wouldn't prevent person-to-person transmission.
A statement released by Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego said the 3000-seat church would be providing masks and taking attendees' temperatures at check in, but noted the event doesn't meet the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.
"While I do not believe an event of this magnitude can be held safely, particularly as Arizona sees rising COVID cases, the President has decided to continue with this rally," she wrote.
"Everyone attending tomorrow's event, particularly any elected official, should set an example to residents by wearing a mask. This includes the President."
Another reason rally attendees mightn't need to stress about contracting coronavirus is the number who'll actually go, if last weekend's "humbling" turnout is anything to go by.
The President's return to the campaign trail in Tulsa, Oklahoma last weekend was meant to be a sign of America's reopening (even as new coronavirus cases surge) and a show of political force. For years, Trump has used the size of his crowds as a metric for his success.
Trump and his campaign staff bragged more than a million people had requested tickets, with a spillover stage constructed outside the 19,000-capacity Bank of Oklahoma Centre for Trump to appear on and speak to the horde of supporters who couldn't fit inside.
"We expect to have, you know, it's like a record-setting crowd. We've never had an empty seat, and we certainly won't in Oklahoma," Trump told reporters in the White House Cabinet Room last Monday.
Instead, not even a third of the 19,000-seat arena was filled, the spillover stage was dismantled, and questions started swirling over the likelihood of Trump getting re-elected for another term.
– With AP