logo

Does recent research suggest that Trump campaign rallies may have accelerated the spread of the coronavirus?

Saturday, November 7, 2020
By Esther Tsvayg
YES

Analyzing data from counties that hosted 18 Trump campaign rallies between June and September, a group of Stanford economists concluded that the events likely led to 30,000 coronavirus infections and more than 700 deaths (not necessarily of people who themselves attended the rallies). Critics argue that incomplete contact tracing, and the likelihood that attendees may have traveled from well beyond the host county, make it impossible to prove the impact.

A CNN analysis of 17 rallies held between Aug. 17 and Sept. 26 found that 14 host counties experienced a spike in coronavirus cases a month after their rally was held. Of the counties that saw increased infection rates, over half had experienced declining infection rates in the month before the rally occurred.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR
Between 2020 and 2022, under close editorial supervision, Gigafact contracted a group of freelance writers and editors to test the concepts for fact briefs and provide inputs to our software development process. We call this effort Gigafact Foundry. Over the course of these two years, Gigafact Foundry writers published over 1500 fact briefs in response to claims they found online. Their important work forms the basis of Gigafact formats and editorial guidelines, and is available to the public on Gigafact.org. Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of relevant information to be found, not all fact briefs produced by Gigafact Foundry reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date and need to be looked at with fresh eyes, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.
FACT BRIEF BY
facebook
twitter
email
email