Trump resuming pandemic rallies in Sanford, Florida

President Donald Trump is dashing to get again on the marketing campaign path only one week after leaving the hospital, and earlier than it’s even clear that he’s examined unfavorable for the coronavirus. (Minutes earlier than this story was printed, Trump’s doctor launched a letter claiming that Trump “has examined NEGATIVE, on consecutive days, utilizing the Abbott BinaxNOW antigen card.”)

With polling displaying the presidential race trending towards a Biden landslide, Trump is scheduled to carry a rally on Monday night in Sanford, Florida. It will likely be his first since a visit to Minnesota on September 30 throughout which White Home aide Hope Hicks fell ailing with Covid-19, and marks the start of what’s shaping as much as be an awfully intense three weeks of campaigning for the president. Trump has reportedly requested his marketing campaign to schedule in-person occasions for him each night time between Monday and Election Day. One adviser expressed fear to Axios that Trump is “going to kill himself.”

Whereas Trump’s latest TV and radio interviews point out he’s at the very least feeling higher bodily than he was within the days instantly following his October 2 announcement that he examined optimistic for the coronavirus, the president desires individuals to imagine he’s the primary particular person on the planet to check optimistic after which truly really feel higher every week later.

Throughout a Sunday morning look on Fox Information, as an example, Trump claimed with out proof that he’s “immune” to the virus, however didn’t reply a query about what precautions his marketing campaign will take to attempt to preserve individuals protected at his rallies. Alongside the identical strains, throughout a separate Fox Information look, Trump marketing campaign official Lara Trump deflected questions in regards to the security of Trump holding in-person occasions.

The actual fact of the matter is it doesn’t seem Trump’s marketing campaign plans to do a lot. The Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention says giant gatherings the place it’s arduous to take care of bodily distance from others (like political rallies) current the “highest threat” of changing into spreading occasions, however the marketing campaign’s response to questions on how they’re flouting authorities steering has been to counsel the fitting of meeting trumps public well being.

Rally attendees are nonetheless required to signal a waiver absolving the marketing campaign of any duty in the event that they contract Covid-19. And early photographs from Sanford point out that there received’t be a lot social distancing or mask-wearing.

Whereas Trump’s occasion on Monday is scheduled to happen open air, that doesn’t imply it’s completely protected. Think about, as an example, the fallout from Trump’s September 18 rally in Bemidji, Minnesota.

Trump’s newest Minnesota rallies left a path of Covid-19 of their wake

The Bemidji rally is probably greatest remembered for Trump praising his nearly totally white viewers for his or her “good genes,” and for the truth that it started proper as information broke of Supreme Court docket Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s dying. Nevertheless it was again within the information late final week after the Minnesota Division of Well being (MDH) introduced that 9 coronavirus instances — together with two requiring hospitalization, and one which put an individual within the ICU — had been linked to it.

Whereas it’s unattainable to know for certain that the 9 infections had been contracted on the rally, MDH spokesperson Doug Schultz informed Politico that each one 9 individuals “attended the rally in the course of the time once they had been more likely to have been uncovered to the virus that made them ailing (i.e. 14 days previous to sickness onset).” He added that it’s probably at the very least one particular person was infectious on the rally.

Trump’s final rally earlier than he introduced his coronavirus analysis was held about three hours away from Bemidji in Duluth, Minnesota, on September 30 — about 48 hours earlier than Trump ended up within the hospital together with his personal coronavirus analysis. The MDH sounded the alarm in regards to the Duluth occasion as effectively, releasing a press release noting that “Group transmission of COVID-19 was excessive in St. Louis County previous to this week’s rally, and folks attending the rally could have been infectious with out realizing it.”

“Folks ought to contemplate getting examined even when they don’t have signs as a result of some individuals could not develop or acknowledge signs and folks can unfold the virus even with out displaying signs,” the assertion added.

But on Monday night time, the Trump marketing campaign is utilizing unreliable temperature checks to attempt to establish potential coronavirus carriers. Put all of it collectively and you’ll perceive why Anthony Fauci, head of the Nationwide Institute of Allergy and Infectious Illnesses, mentioned on CNN on Monday that Trump’s pandemic rallies are a nasty concept from a public well being standpoint.

“We all know that that’s asking for hassle if you try this. We’ve seen that when you will have conditions of congregate settings the place there are lots of people with out masks, the information converse for themselves,” Fauci mentioned, including that the rallies are an additional unhealthy concept proper now since new coronavirus instances are once more on the rise all through the nation.

Trump continues to be promoting false hope in regards to the coronavirus magically going away

Should you hoped Trump’s coronavirus hospitalization would possibly trigger him to rethink the knowledge of holding rallies throughout a pandemic, he dispelled that even earlier than he left Walter Reed medical middle with a tweet during which he suggested individuals, “Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life.”

However that speaking level is chilly consolation to family members of the almost 215,000 Individuals who’ve misplaced their lives to Covid-19, to not mentions the hundreds of others who survived with broken well being. And as CNN detailed on Monday, the most recent case numbers point out issues are trending within the fallacious path:

The virus is now trending up in 31 states and is receding in solely three, in keeping with Johns Hopkins College. On Saturday alone, there have been greater than 54,000 new infections recorded with an extra 618 deaths. The excessive baseline of instances implies that a coming spike could possibly be much more severe than the viral storm that raged by the northeast and the south within the spring and summer season.

The newest forecast from the Institute for Well being Metrics and Analysis on the College of Washington Faculty of Medication tasks that there could possibly be almost 395,000 US coronavirus deaths by February 1.

Voters are blaming Trump. A brand new Washington Submit-ABC ballot signifies that the failed coronavirus response is a significant headwind for his marketing campaign, with almost two-thirds of respondents saying they don’t assume Trump took applicable precaution to scale back the prospect he’d get the illness himself.

However as a substitute of partaking with that actuality, Trump on Saturday falsely insisted the coronavirus is “disappearing.”

And on Sunday, Trump in contrast his response favorably with a projection from the early days of the pandemic primarily based on a mannequin during which the US authorities did nothing to sluggish the unfold of the virus.

Whereas it’s debatable whether or not it’s good politics for Trump to hit the marketing campaign path to recklessly maintain rallies contemporary off a bout with the coronavirus that he probably contracted in the middle of holding reckless occasions, it’s definitely not good public well being apply.

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