July 8, 2020

Raw Data: Did Trump’s Tulsa Rally Cause COVID-19 to Take Off?

Did Donald Trump’s rally in Tulsa cause the rate of COVID-19 cases to skyrocket? Here’s the raw data:

Maybe. But an eyeball look at this chart sure seems to suggest that Tulsa has followed the same trendline before and after the rally. The city has no mask requirement, nor does it have any ban on large gatherings, of which there have been quite a few in addition to Trump’s.

Holding an indoor rally while the case rate was increasing was surely a dumb thing to do, but based on the numbers alone it’s hard to say for sure what impact it had.

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We’ll say it loud and clear: No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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