CNN's Rick Santorum claims that Trump rallies are “not highly spreadable events.” Studies and reports have found otherwise.

Written by John Whitehouse

Published

From the November 1, 2020, edition of CNN’s State of the Union  

RICK SANTORUM (CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR): Well look, the fact of the matter is that the president -- people at these rallies -- recommend that people wear masks and they also have them outside. And you just heard from Gov. DeWine, who is, you know, who has been pretty strict in the state of Ohio saying that these -- that the virus doesn't spread, and we know this from public health officials, it doesn't spread outside anywhere near. Most of these spreads occurred in people's homes in small confined areas. We have known that for six months and everyone seems to ignore the fact that these are not highly spreadable events when most people, a lot of people are wearing masks, and it's outside. And so let's just -- you want to talk about science, let's deal with the science that that's not where the virus is spreading.

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DAVID AXELROD (CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR): When he mocks Laura Ingraham at a rally for wearing a mask and saying you're trying to be politically correct, when he stands on a stage and mocks the vice president for wearing a mask, that has an impact, Rick. I mean, that's -- you know, yes, there is science about outdoor versus indoor. It is true that people -- outdoor gatherings are also proscribed in lots of places in this country because it does have an impact. But the mocking of people for wearing masks has had an impact on the country and he is still doing it even as we are reaching this horrible new peak.

JAKE TAPPER (HOST): Amanda?

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AMANDA CARPENTER (CNN CONTRIBUTOR): Yeah, I was struck by something that Gov. DeWine said in the previous interview where he talked about how we're at war with this virus.

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CARPENTER: And a key piece of this war is wearing a mask. You wouldn’t send soldiers into the battlefield without equipment. And that is what Donald Trump is doing every day by congregating these people together where they can spread it. They made the Supreme Court nomination of Amy Coney Barrett, which should have been a good event for Republicans, into a superspreader event. We have seen Republican leaders be struck down with the illness and still continue to go to the events. And so at some point we have to get some agreement about health and safety, and Donald Trump has been the worst example that we can imagine for that.

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SANTORUM: Yeah, look, the reality is that 70% of the people who are getting infected, who are getting this infection, wear masks all the time. So the idea that is a mask is a silver bullet that's going to stop people from getting it -- it's where you are and how you are --

[CROSS-TALK]

SANTORUM: No, this is a CDC number. Don't go, “Oh, come on," 70% is a CDC number.

TAPPER: No, that's a misreading of that study. The study was -- that's not accurate. I don't want to get into that whole CDC -- look, obviously, a mask is not a silver bullet.

SANTORUM: It is not a silver bullet.

TAPPER: But that study was trying to figure out how those individuals got the virus and 42% of the people who got the virus had been in close contact with somebody that was infected, and then a lot of those people also had been in a restaurant dining, some of whom were indoors. So that was a misrepresentative statistic.

Contrary to Santorum's claims, a study by Stanford researchers estimated that Trump's rallies over the summer led to “30,000 incremental confirmed cases of COVID-19” and “likely led to more than 700 deaths.” This follows recent reporting suggesting that Trump’s campaign rallies may have contributed to multiple community outbreaks across the country. In one instance following a June rally in Tulsa, an outbreak even occurred among Secret Service agents, and coronavirus cases climbed in the city in the subsequent days.

Notably, CNN's Jake Tapper did correctly refute Santorum's misreading of a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about COVID-19 spread. As Media Matters' Matt Gertz recently noted:

Based on a survey of 314 people from 11 health care facilities, it focused on the impact of going to public places where masks cannot easily be worn, such as restaurants with on-site eating and bars. The study concluded that “adults with positive SARS-CoV-2 test results were approximately twice as likely to have reported dining at a restaurant than were those with negative SARS-CoV-2 test results.” It also found that close contact with someone who also tested positive was a major risk factor.

“It’s misleading to leap to conclusions about the effectiveness of masks from the CDC report, since most participants reported wearing them and the study was not controlling for mask use,” PolitiFact pointed out after reviewing it and speaking to experts.