The vote to renominate President Donald Trump is set to be conducted in private later this month, without members of the press present, a spokeswoman for the Republican National Convention said, citing the coronavirus.

While Trump called off the public components of the convention in Florida last month, citing spiking cases of the virus across the country, 336 delegates are scheduled to gather in Charlotte, North Carolina, on August 24 to renominate him.

Deaths in the US from coronavirus exceeded 1,000 for a fifth consecutive day. Texas reported 9,539 daily new cases on Saturday, boosting the state’s total to 430,485 confirmed cases. Reported deaths slowed in Florida, where a hurricane threat is disrupting efforts to contain the pandemic.

“We are planning for all of the Charlotte activities to be closed press: Friday, August 21-Monday, 24th given the health restrictions and limitations in place in the state,” the Republican convention spokesperson had told the Arkansas Democrat Gazette.

“We are working within the parameters set before us by state and local guidelines regarding the number of people who can attend events.”

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“We are happy to let you know if this changes, but we are working within the parameters set before us by state and local guidelines regarding the number of people who can attend events.”

The vote to formally nominate Trump will be livestreamed, according to CNN.

“This is an ill-advised decision that the @GOP @GOPconvention should reconsider,” Zeke Miller, president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, said on Saturday.

“The nomination of a major party presidential candidate is very much the business of the American people.”

Miller later tweeted: “An RNC official now says that the decision is not final and that they are still working through press coverage options.” Trump has been forced to scrap his rallies because of the epidemic, which is killing more than 1,000 Americans a day.