Dr. Anthony Fauci, a top U.S. virus expert, called Trump’s September 26 White House event introducing Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett a “superspreader event” since 34 Trump associates have since tested positive for COVID-19, the virus which has killed more than 213,000 Americans since June.
“The data speak for themselves,” Fauci told CBS News on Friday. “We had a superspreader event in the White House, and it was in a situation where people were crowded together and were not wearing masks.”
Fauci’s comment came on the same day as Minnesota health officials announced that nine attendees of Trump’s September 18 rally in Bemidji tested positive for COVID-19. Both yesterday and at the first presidential debate, Trump claimed that his largely maskless and non-socially distanced rallies are safe.
Yesterday, Minnesota state health officials said that two of the attendees were hospitalized, and one attendee was placed in an intensive care unit (ICU). The ICU is where patients with serious and potentially life-threatening symptoms are treated.
Trump’s rallies have largely flouted city ordinances requiring face masks and social distancing by being registered as “peaceful protests” rather than self-promoting political events.
News of the Minnesota infections came the same day as Trump pledged to host hundreds of people at a White House event on Saturday and mentioned his plans to hold a “very big” rally in Florida on Monday.
Trump is planning to host these public events even though he and his own doctors have refused to say when he last tested positive for COVID-19.