SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Armed demonstrators protest in Lansing, Michigan, during a rally organized by Michigan United for Liberty on May 14, 2020, to protest the coronavirus pandemic stay-at-home orders. (Photo: Jeff Kowalsky/AFP via Getty Images)
'Neither Ironic or Funny': Cell Data Reveals Right-Wing Lockdown Protesters May Be Spreading Covid-19
"The behavior we're seeing at protests carries a high risk of infection," said Dr. Rob Davidson, an emergency care physician and executive director of the Committee to Protect Medicare.
May 18, 2020
Cellphone data provided to The Guardian by advocacy group Committee to Protect Medicare shows that the right-wing anti-lockdown protests encouraged by President Donald Trump may have resulted in the spread of coronavirus across the country as some demonstrators traveled to the events from out of state, flouted social distancing guidelines, and then returned to their home communities.
The Guardian reported Monday that the data shows demonstrators, some of them heavily armed, "are often traveling hundreds of miles to events" protesting state stay-at-home orders designed to stem the spread of Covid-19, which has infected more than 1.4 million people in the U.S. and killed at least 89,000.
"The behavior we're seeing at protests carries a high risk of infection," said Dr. Rob Davidson, an emergency care physician and executive director of the Committee to Protect Medicare. Many demonstrators at events in Michigan, Wisconsin, and other states did not wear masks or adhere to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, which recommend that people remain at least six feet apart and avoid gathering in crowds.
"We can see protesters are going from a highly concentrated event and then dispersing widely," Davidson said.
Scott Smith, founder of research firm Changeist, tweeted that the new data "may also indicate the extent to which these were organized astroturf protests, based on the distance people are traveling and common appearances at different events."
According to The Guardian:
The anonymized location data was captured from opt-in cellphone apps, and data scientists at the firm VoteMap used it to determine the movements of devices present at protests in late April and early May in five states: Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Colorado, and Florida.
They then created visualizations that tracked the movements of those devices up to 48 hours after the conclusion of protests. The visualizations only show movements within states, due to the queries analysts made in creating them. But the data scientist Jeremy Fair, executive-vice president of VoteMap, says that many of the devices that are seen to reach state borders are seen to continue across them in the underlying raw data.
One visualization shows that in Lansing, Michigan, after a 30 April protest in which armed protesters stormed the capitol building and state police were forced to physically block access to Governor Gretchen Whitmer, devices which had been present at the protest site can be seen returning to all parts of the state, from Detroit to remote towns in the state's north.
One device visible in the data traveled to and from Afton, which is over 180 miles from the capital. Others reached, and some crossed, the Indiana border.
Trump on Saturday echoed his previous endorsements of the anti-lockdown protests, calling demonstrators in Long Island, New York who berated a local news reporter walking through the crowd as "great people."
Public health experts have warned that the demonstrations, which in some cases have drawn thousands of people, could spark a completely avoidable wave of coronavirus infections and deaths around the nation.
"You may be willing to risk your life and say 'I think I'm a tough person, I can take it,'" Maureen Casey, a registered nurse at Hershey Medical Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania, told ABC News. "But it's not about you, it's about who you would expose for you to go to work. These people think it's a hoax or it's fake, or it's all made up. It's not."
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat whose state has seen several large protests--including one in which armed demonstrators stormed the Michigan State House--urged Vice President Mike Pence in a call this month to discourage the anti-lockdown events because they are spreading coronavirus around the state.
"What we have seen from initial protests here is that we've got Covid-19 spreading in rural parts of our state, from which people traveled," Whitmer told Pence, according to audio of the call obtained by ABC News.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Cellphone data provided to The Guardian by advocacy group Committee to Protect Medicare shows that the right-wing anti-lockdown protests encouraged by President Donald Trump may have resulted in the spread of coronavirus across the country as some demonstrators traveled to the events from out of state, flouted social distancing guidelines, and then returned to their home communities.
The Guardian reported Monday that the data shows demonstrators, some of them heavily armed, "are often traveling hundreds of miles to events" protesting state stay-at-home orders designed to stem the spread of Covid-19, which has infected more than 1.4 million people in the U.S. and killed at least 89,000.
"The behavior we're seeing at protests carries a high risk of infection," said Dr. Rob Davidson, an emergency care physician and executive director of the Committee to Protect Medicare. Many demonstrators at events in Michigan, Wisconsin, and other states did not wear masks or adhere to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, which recommend that people remain at least six feet apart and avoid gathering in crowds.
"We can see protesters are going from a highly concentrated event and then dispersing widely," Davidson said.
Scott Smith, founder of research firm Changeist, tweeted that the new data "may also indicate the extent to which these were organized astroturf protests, based on the distance people are traveling and common appearances at different events."
According to The Guardian:
The anonymized location data was captured from opt-in cellphone apps, and data scientists at the firm VoteMap used it to determine the movements of devices present at protests in late April and early May in five states: Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Colorado, and Florida.
They then created visualizations that tracked the movements of those devices up to 48 hours after the conclusion of protests. The visualizations only show movements within states, due to the queries analysts made in creating them. But the data scientist Jeremy Fair, executive-vice president of VoteMap, says that many of the devices that are seen to reach state borders are seen to continue across them in the underlying raw data.
One visualization shows that in Lansing, Michigan, after a 30 April protest in which armed protesters stormed the capitol building and state police were forced to physically block access to Governor Gretchen Whitmer, devices which had been present at the protest site can be seen returning to all parts of the state, from Detroit to remote towns in the state's north.
One device visible in the data traveled to and from Afton, which is over 180 miles from the capital. Others reached, and some crossed, the Indiana border.
Trump on Saturday echoed his previous endorsements of the anti-lockdown protests, calling demonstrators in Long Island, New York who berated a local news reporter walking through the crowd as "great people."
Public health experts have warned that the demonstrations, which in some cases have drawn thousands of people, could spark a completely avoidable wave of coronavirus infections and deaths around the nation.
"You may be willing to risk your life and say 'I think I'm a tough person, I can take it,'" Maureen Casey, a registered nurse at Hershey Medical Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania, told ABC News. "But it's not about you, it's about who you would expose for you to go to work. These people think it's a hoax or it's fake, or it's all made up. It's not."
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat whose state has seen several large protests--including one in which armed demonstrators stormed the Michigan State House--urged Vice President Mike Pence in a call this month to discourage the anti-lockdown events because they are spreading coronavirus around the state.
"What we have seen from initial protests here is that we've got Covid-19 spreading in rural parts of our state, from which people traveled," Whitmer told Pence, according to audio of the call obtained by ABC News.
Cellphone data provided to The Guardian by advocacy group Committee to Protect Medicare shows that the right-wing anti-lockdown protests encouraged by President Donald Trump may have resulted in the spread of coronavirus across the country as some demonstrators traveled to the events from out of state, flouted social distancing guidelines, and then returned to their home communities.
The Guardian reported Monday that the data shows demonstrators, some of them heavily armed, "are often traveling hundreds of miles to events" protesting state stay-at-home orders designed to stem the spread of Covid-19, which has infected more than 1.4 million people in the U.S. and killed at least 89,000.
"The behavior we're seeing at protests carries a high risk of infection," said Dr. Rob Davidson, an emergency care physician and executive director of the Committee to Protect Medicare. Many demonstrators at events in Michigan, Wisconsin, and other states did not wear masks or adhere to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, which recommend that people remain at least six feet apart and avoid gathering in crowds.
"We can see protesters are going from a highly concentrated event and then dispersing widely," Davidson said.
Scott Smith, founder of research firm Changeist, tweeted that the new data "may also indicate the extent to which these were organized astroturf protests, based on the distance people are traveling and common appearances at different events."
According to The Guardian:
The anonymized location data was captured from opt-in cellphone apps, and data scientists at the firm VoteMap used it to determine the movements of devices present at protests in late April and early May in five states: Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Colorado, and Florida.
They then created visualizations that tracked the movements of those devices up to 48 hours after the conclusion of protests. The visualizations only show movements within states, due to the queries analysts made in creating them. But the data scientist Jeremy Fair, executive-vice president of VoteMap, says that many of the devices that are seen to reach state borders are seen to continue across them in the underlying raw data.
One visualization shows that in Lansing, Michigan, after a 30 April protest in which armed protesters stormed the capitol building and state police were forced to physically block access to Governor Gretchen Whitmer, devices which had been present at the protest site can be seen returning to all parts of the state, from Detroit to remote towns in the state's north.
One device visible in the data traveled to and from Afton, which is over 180 miles from the capital. Others reached, and some crossed, the Indiana border.
Trump on Saturday echoed his previous endorsements of the anti-lockdown protests, calling demonstrators in Long Island, New York who berated a local news reporter walking through the crowd as "great people."
Public health experts have warned that the demonstrations, which in some cases have drawn thousands of people, could spark a completely avoidable wave of coronavirus infections and deaths around the nation.
"You may be willing to risk your life and say 'I think I'm a tough person, I can take it,'" Maureen Casey, a registered nurse at Hershey Medical Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania, told ABC News. "But it's not about you, it's about who you would expose for you to go to work. These people think it's a hoax or it's fake, or it's all made up. It's not."
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat whose state has seen several large protests--including one in which armed demonstrators stormed the Michigan State House--urged Vice President Mike Pence in a call this month to discourage the anti-lockdown events because they are spreading coronavirus around the state.
"What we have seen from initial protests here is that we've got Covid-19 spreading in rural parts of our state, from which people traveled," Whitmer told Pence, according to audio of the call obtained by ABC News.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.