President Trump’s insistence on holding rallies in the middle of a pandemic, cramming often maskless people together, sometimes in indoor spaces, was always bound to lead to disaster. But ever since it became apparent COVID-19 was going to change the world this year, Trump has made decisions that appear to benefit his popularity and reelection chances over ones that would make the country safer.
Now, a new Stanford University study claims that Trump’s insistence on throwing these rallies has led to 30,000 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 across the country and over 700 deaths.
The study specifically looked at 18 rallies that happened between June and September of this year, 15 of which were outdoor events. It isn’t a precise calculation, but instead compares the uptick in COVID-19 cases in the counties where these rallies were held to the number of COVID-19 cases in many more counties with similar demographics and prior COVID spread.
It’s also important to note that the estimates would therefore include people infected by rally attendees, rather than just the people at the rallies themselves.
Anyone who has paid attention to the photos and videos coming out of Trump’s rallies won’t be surprised by these numbers — or perhaps will only be surprised that they aren’t even higher. Countless coverage suggests social distancing and mask-wearing was not common during most of these events, and requirements were generally lax.
Before Trump’s rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which was covered by this study, his campaign even removed social distancing stickers left on the seats by the venue to space out the crowd.
That the United States can’t even begin to get the pandemic under control is already frustrating to all Americans who have been following safety guidelines during this time, and to see how Trump’s rallies have compounded the damage already caused by Trump’s failure to lead isn’t helping to ease concerns.
White House spokesman Judd Deere, however, dismissed the study as nothing more than a political tool.
“As the President has said, the cure cannot be worse than the disease and this country should be open armed with best practices and freedom of choice to limit the spread of COVID-19,” he said.
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