President Donald Trump rallies caused more than 30,000 coronavirus cases, according to a study by researchers at Stanford.
Researchers investigated 18 Trump rallies that took place between June 20 and Sept. 22 and studied coronavirus data the weeks following each activity. They assessed the counties where the rallies took place to other counties that had a similar trajectory of Covid-19 infections prior to the rally date. Three out of the 18 rallies studied were indoors, according to the research.
The team found that the rallies led to more than 30,000 confirmed infections. They also concluded that the rallies likely caused over 700 deaths, though not necessarily among attendees.
According to the researchers, the findings reflect the warnings and recommendations of public health authorities about the risk of the virus transmission at public group gatherings, “particularly when the degree of compliance with guidelines concerning the use of masks and social distancing is low.”
“The communities in which Trump rallies took place paid a high price in terms of disease and death,” said B. Douglas Bernheim, chairman of Stanford’s economics department and a lead author of the paper, wrote.
The paper has not been peer-reviewed yet but was released on open access preprint platform SSRN.
In response to the paper, Trump campaign spokesperson Courtney Parella said, “Americans have the right to gather under the First Amendment to hear from the President of the United States.”
“We take strong precautions for our campaign events, requiring every attendee to have their temperature checked, providing masks they’re instructed to wear, and ensuring access to plenty of hand sanitizer. We also have signs at our events instructing attendees to wear their masks,” she noted.
Biden's reaction
A spokesperson for Joe Biden’s campaign released a statement after the paper was published, saying, Trump is “costing hundreds of lives and sparking thousands of cases with super spreader rallies that only serve his own ego.”
“The worst part is that this doesn’t even capture Trump’s many superspreader events on White House grounds or the last five weeks of events across the country. How many more lives have been upended in that time? How many more empty seats are there at kitchen tables across America because of Donald Trump’s ego?” spokesperson Andrew Bates said.
The team said they had to go through “significant challenges,” knowing that the dynamics of Covid-19 are “complex,” and “even the most superficial examination of the data reveals that the process governing the spread of Covid-19 differs across counties.”
The study as the coronavirus cases in the US continues to spread. Last Friday, the US posted a record 99,321 daily new infections, bringing the seven-day average of daily new cases to 78,738, based on a CNBC analysis of data from Johns Hopkins University.
White House health advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said Friday that the U.S. is posting an “extremely high and quite unacceptable” daily number of Covid-19 cases ahead of the winter season when people will be staying inside their homes.
“We’re in a precarious position over the next several weeks to months,” Dr. Fauci told SiriusXM’s “Doctor Radio Reports,” calling on people to continue wearing face masks, social distance and spend time outdoors over indoors as much as possible.
