Trump’s rallies have left a trail of Covid clusters across the United States, report says

One county in Wisconsin sees 67 per cent increase in cases in the two weeks after event

Harriet Alexander
Saturday 24 October 2020 15:53 BST
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Cases of coronavirus have spiked in a series of states where Donald Trump has held campaign rallies, according to a new analysis of infection rates.

In Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin the number of coronavirus cases rose at a faster rate after the rally than before, researchers at USA Today found.

In five counties across those three states – Blue Earth and Beltrami counties in Minnesota; Lackawanna and Dauphin counties in Pennsylvania; and Marathon county, Wisconsin – there were 1,500 more cases in the two weeks after Mr Trump’s rally than the two weeks before.

One of the rallies in particular, in Beltrami county, Minnesota, was officially designated a “super-spreader event” after 16 cases were confirmed among attendees, and two people were taken to hospital.

The paper calculated that the president has held at least 36 events since mid August – most of them outdoors, at airport hangars.

Rallies in the last two weeks, as Mr Trump significantly ramped up the pace in the final fortnight before election day, were not taken into account as the impact would not yet have registered.

On Friday the president held two rallies in Florida – one in Pensacola, and the other at the world's largest retirement community, The Villages, near Orlando. Hundreds of elderly residents packed into the area to hear Mr Trump warn of Joe Biden's "socialist" agenda, and see him dance to YMCA.

Health experts have said it is impossible to pinpoint precisely where a person was infected.

However, they are unanimous in their assessment that gathering large crowds of people together in the midst of a pandemic, and not making face masks mandatory, is ill-advised.

Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said that Mr Trump was "asking for trouble" by hosting rallies.

In the five counties, the USA Today team found a significant rise in infections.

In Marathon county, Wisconsin, where Mr Trump held a 17 September rally, cases were increasing by a rate of 17 per cent pace two weeks before, and 67 per cent two weeks after.

In Beltrami county, Minnesota, the local case load grew by 35 per cent, compared to a statewide increase of only 14 per cent.

A general view shows the crowd at one of the rallies in Janesville, a city in Rock County, Wisconsin

Shelley Payne, director of the LaMontagne Center for Infectious Diseases at the University of Texas, told the paper that political rallies with their shouting and close contact were the perfect place to spread a virus.

Those infected will take the virus back to their families, friends and colleagues, she said.

“This is true of any respiratory virus; when you’re near people in close contact, you’re going to spread the virus,” Ms Payne said.

“And rallies are particularly problematic.”

The spike in infections across the midwest have also come at a time when students are returning to schools and universities for their autumn terms, and when the cooler weather forces more people indoors – perhaps gathering in groups.

Yet the continued staging of mass rallies is only believed to exacerbate the situation.

In Iowa protesters put signs up ahead of Mr Trump's rally pointing the way to the "Trump super-spreader event".

In Nevada the governor pleaded with the president to enforce the state's mask mandate, and has handed out fines for the venues holding mass gatherings. A wine bar which hosted an Eric Trump event, and a local manufacturing company that welcomed thousands of people indoors to see the president in suburban Las Vegas, have both been fined by the state for flouting the rules.

Courtney Parella, deputy press secretary for the Trump campaign, defended the rallies and attacked other large gatherings organised to support women’s rights and the Black Lives Matter movement.

“Americans have the right to gather under the First Amendment to hear from the President of the United States, and we take strong precautions for our campaign events, requiring every attendee to have their temperature checked, be provided a mask they’re instructed to wear, and ensuring access to plenty of hand sanitizer,” said Ms Parella.

“We also have signs at our events instructing attendees to wear their masks.”

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