False, Though

We hear from and individual on Donald Trump's short list for vice presidential nominee before the dog days of May.

Tim Walz locked down his people and took their Freedoms away.

He said that we should have canceled the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally (even though he let violent rioters crowd his own streets).

Thousands and thousands of Minnesotans have moved to South Dakota to flee his radical… pic.twitter.com/rExMkTmGyW

— Kristi Noem (@KristiNoem) August 7, 2024

 

Putting aside Noem's specific claims, the primary the implication of the South Carolina governor is that as Covid-19 raged, Governor Walz tolerated dangerous riots (also known as the George Floyd protests) while the motorcycle rally in Sturgis posed little threat.

Yet, on July 1, 2020 we learned

There is little evidence that the protests that erupted after George Floyd’s death caused a significant increase in U.S. coronavirus infections, according to public health experts.

If the protests had driven an explosion in cases, experts say, the jumps would have started to become apparent within two weeks — and perhaps as early as five days. But that didn’t happen in many cities with the largest protests, including New York, Chicago, Minneapolis, and Washington, D.C.

In what’s considered the first systematic look at the question, a team of economists determined that only one of 13 cities involved in the earliest wave of protests after Memorial Day had an increase that would fit the pattern.

It was Phoenix, where experts say cases and hospitalizations surged after a decision by Gov. Doug Ducey to end Arizona’s stay-at-home order on May 15 and eased restrictions on businesses. Arizona residents who were cooped up for six weeks flooded Phoenix-area bar districts, ignoring social distancing guidelines.

In many cities, the protests actually seemed to lead to a net increase in social distancing, as more people who did not protest decided to stay off the streets, said that study’s lead author, Dhaval Dave of Bentley University.

And in Minneapolis: seventeen days earlier, the conservative Daily Mail (notwithstanding its misleading headline) had reported

The health department set up four testing sites last week specifically for those who had participated in the protests with more than 3,300 people undergoing tests.

 Results from about 1,300 of the tests - or 40 percent - carried out at those sites on June 9 and 10 have already come back and show that 1.4 percent of protesters who were tested have been infected with COVID-19.

The seven-day average of positive tests across Minnesota is 3.7 percent. It is higher because it is based on people who have been tested because they are displaying symptoms.

By contrast, in Sturgis, South Dakota, the annual summertime motorcycle rally significantly increased Covid-19 infections, cases of hospitalization, and deaths. After the following years rally, in late August of 2021 the CDC explained

Eighty-six Minnesota COVID-19 cases were associated with the South Dakota motorcycle rally; approximately one third of counties in Minnesota reported at least one case epidemiologically linked to this event. These findings highlight the far-reaching effects that gatherings in one area might have on another area. The motorcycle rally was held in a neighboring state that did not have policies regarding event size and mask use, underscoring the implications of policies within and across jurisdictions. The findings suggest that this rally not only had a direct impact on the health of attendees, but also led to subsequent SARS-CoV-2 transmission among household, social, and workplace contacts of rally attendees upon their return to Minnesota. Whole genome sequencing results supported the finding of secondary and tertiary transmission associated with this rally.

It shouldn't be surprising that the motorcycle rallies had a far greater impact upon Covid-19 transmission than did the black lives matter protests. Vox listed several reasons there were relatively few infections caused by the protests, a few of which contrast sharply with the South Dakota motorcycle rallies. 

The George Floyd demonstrations were attended disproportionately by young people, likely younger than the Sturgis gathering. There was also more social distancing, mask-wearing, and hand washing among the racial justice people, who generally were more accepting of measures intended to slow spread of he coronavirus. 

Moreover, the black lives matte protests were outdoors and most attendees marched, then returned home. But individuals going to Sturgis came from far and wide and did not show up and leave. They go to restaurants and bars and generally partake of the party-like atmosphere before returning home.

The governor of South Dakota criticizes the governor of Minnesota for his approach, which saved lives, to the once-in-a-hundred years outbreak. The irony is that, though dishonest, it is great politics. Under attack, 

The irony is great: people came to Sturgis, some went back to Minneapolis and infected people and the governor of South Dakota down the governor Minnesota for his approach, which saved lives, to the once-in-a-hundred outbreak. Dr. Deborah Birx, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and others associated with the federal government's response to Covid-19 have done little to defend themselves against charges from the right-wing. Democratic politicians, many of whom have been criticized by Republicans for their relatively aggressive approach to contain the effects of the coronavirus, have remained nearly completely silent.

Combine condemnation of a cautionary approach in the pandemic with an appeal to "freedoms" and there is the germ of a clever campaign against the Democratic presidential ticket. Fortunately, the Republican presidential ticket hasn't figured that out.

 

Share |