Trump Rally Is the 'Perfect Storm Setup,' for Viral Spread, Disease Expert Says

[Zorro]

The coronavirus won’t be loosening its grip on the United States any time soon, leading infectious disease experts said on Sunday. They are also uncertain how the viral spread will be affected by the patchwork of states reopening businesses and by large events like protests and President Trump’s upcoming campaign rallies.

“This virus is not going to rest” until it infects about 60 percent to 70 percent of the population, Dr. Michael T. Osterholm, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, said on “Fox News Sunday.”

Experts have estimated that without a vaccine, about 70 percent of the population will need to be infected and develop immunity in order to stop the virus’s spread, a concept called herd immunity. The number of confirmed American cases now exceeds 2 million, less than 1 percent of the U.S. population, according to the Johns Hopkins Covid-19 Dashboard and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Joseph Fair, a virologist and epidemiologist who recently recovered from a serious bout of Covid-19, echoed that view on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/14/health/coronavirus-summer-spread.html

[Lock him up.]

1. The "less than 1 percent of the U.S. population" are those who are...

... TESTED (positive) ...

The REAL number is probably a LOT higher.

But they never MENTION that...

Lock him up.

[Timewas]

2. More

Thinning the herd

[Skittles]

3. Trump DOES.NOT.CARE.

he needs a hate rally just like a junkie needs a fix

[Rhiannon12866]

4. +1000

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

5. Perhaps we should start a pool of some kind to predict

how many attendees will get sick after.

[Wounded Bear]

6. Guaranteed superspreader event...

[Delarage]

7. Mouth-breathing troglodytes

+ super-spreaders = the end of Repuk-ism?

[Hortensis]

8. All too likely. But little disease spread resulted from the

crowding of that big lake resort in Missouri we were gasping in shock and horror over, so this setup may not develop into a perfect storm. Fewer than usual of retirement age will be there, and those who are will tend to be healthy for their age. Further, given their behaviors it's reasonable to assume most attendees will already have been exposed and those they associate with.

The other possibility if he holds the rally would be a new center of disease spread that would showcase Trump's depraved indifference to even the lives of "my people" in a way potential swing voters couldn't miss.

But right now there is an if. With rates already soaring in Tulsa, and backlash against the very idea growing, including on Fox, they may decide (be forced) to cancel "responsibly." I hope not. Just holding it would showcase this depraved whackjob for what he is. And isn't.