CNN investigated coronavirus infection rates before and after 17 recent Trump rallies and found that in 82% of them, the rate of new cases jumped afterward.
CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta crunched the numbers:
The results were startling. 82% of the time, the rate of new cases in the county jumped after President Trump's visit. More than half the time, the county rate of new cases grew faster than the state's rate.
For example, September 12th, Minden, Nevada. In the month going into that rally, cases had begun to fall. But fast forward four weeks and the rate of new cases in the county skyrocketed by 225%, far outpacing the 74% increase the state experienced. Or September 18th, Bemidji, Minnesota. Rates of infection were already climbing in the month before the rally. By the day of the rally, the rate of infection was 6.36 for every 100,000 people in the county, about half the rate of Minnesota. But a month after the rally, the rate of infection in the county had jumped 385% and quickly bypassed the state's rate of infection.
The saddest part is that if only the attendees had worn masks and been socially distanced, Gupta explained, the risk would have been decreased.
Instead, some attendees are almost certainly exposing themselves (and, subsequently, others) to the virus at every Trump rally.
