US lockdown protests may have spread virus widely, cellphone data suggests
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Politics
US lockdown protests may have spread virus widely, cellphone data suggests
The Guardian May 18, 2020, 7:18 AM EDT
Photograph: Jeff Kowalsky/AFP via Getty Images
Cellphone location data suggests that demonstrators at anti-lockdown protests – some of which have been connected with C ovid-19 cases – are often traveling hundreds of miles to events, returning to all parts of their states, and even crossing into neighboring ones.
The data, provided to the Guardian by the progressive campaign group the Committee to Protect Medicare, raises the prospect that the protests will play a role in spreading the coronavirus epidemic to areas which have, so far, experienced relatively few infections.
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 capit ol 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.
In the 48 hours following a 19 April “Operation Gridlock” protest in Denver, devices reached the borders of neighboring states including Wyoming, Nebraska, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Utah.
In Florida on 18 April, devices returned to all parts of the peninsula and up to the Georgia border. In Wisconsin on 24 April, devices returned to smaller towns like Green Bay and Wausau, and the borders of Minnesota and Illinois.
Following the initial wave of anti-lockdown protests in April, epidemiologists warned that they could lead to a new surge in cases.
In North Carolina in late April, one of the leaders of the state’s anti-lockdown protests tested positive for Covid-19 but said she would attend future rallies.
Dr Rob Davidson, executive director of the Committee to Protect Medicare, said that although “it’s hard to draw a straight line between devices, individuals at these protests, and cases”, the data suggests that the protests may be epidemiologically significant events.
“The behavior we’re seeing at protests carries a high risk of infection. We can see protesters are going from a highly concentrated event and then dispersing widely,” he added.
Davidson, who has run for Congress as a Democrat, said that neither he nor his advocacy group were currently affiliated with the Democratic party. The group is made up of more than 300 “doctors who are concerned that the healthcare for their patients has become unaffordable”.
In a series of widely shared videos and threads on Twitter, Davidson has criticized Trump, and attempted to dispel what he calls the “distrust in public health” which “Donald Trump has fomented in his movement”.
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IDIOTS. I think a lot of these terrorists posing as 'protesters' are being paid also.
Seems these foolish anti-science protestors are making themselves suffer and then just pass it along and keep it going so others suffer.
Wonder how many of these sub 100 IQ mouth breathers also deny AGW/climate change and the usefulness of vaccines?.
Love to have statistical data on that....!
We can keep personal data on where individuals go but if one commits an act of terror we can't see what else is on the phone. That's a unique theory of privacy.
meh, who cares if those morons infect each other and their own family members. it's the innocent and unknowing victims of their collective stupidity that I'm most concerned about. let those fucktards go test their herd immunity theory at the R convention and watch mother nature kick them in the nuts a few times.
meh, who cares if those morons infect each other and their own family members. it's the innocent and unknowing victims of their collective stupidity that I'm most concerned about. let those fucktards go test their herd immunity theory at the R convention and watch mother nature kick them in the nuts a few times.Unfortunately these morons are infecting others too that aren't terrorists like themselves.
Me too.
Why can't we cage and quarantine these morons?
Tessylo......... We need to think big!
How about free season tickets to NASCAR events this year.... Them and their 2nd amendment friends, anti-vaxxers, flat earthers, and anyone that thought Sara Palin was fit for office. Who knows, some O2 via a respirator for a couple of weeks just might enlighten the lot of them. It's worth a try as reason and facts sure don't.
Just because you guess that some people spread the virus doesn't mean we should cage people for nothing.
Please show any proof you may have to support your guesses.
I'd be interested in any proof you can offer to support your guess that they are spreading it.
BTW, the proof is NOT in the article posted.
people that don't provide proof when asked for it aren't allowed to demand proof from anyone else
Most of the events were a month ago and the most recent in the article 3 weeks ago. If it was spread widely to all those areas we’d know about it already.
All they got is a bad case of wishful thinking.
Thus is how life is for the hater .....
I will ask whatever I want to whomever I want when I want. Your permission isn't necessary nor sought
Seems we still have all of those FEMA shacks just sitting around collecting dust and emitting cyanide. Some chain link fence topped with concertina wire stretched around a camp out in the desert could probably contain their marching tendencies.
Lol ..... more hateful, wishful thinking ....... good luck!
Indeed. A lot of that is directed our way on this issue.
Common sense would tell anyone that these terrorists are spreading the virus
How so?
These terrorists are protesting daily in different places and spreading the virus
You reap what you sow
I COULD believe you, but you offer not one little shred of proof for any of your bogus claims.
So, NO.
Is that just a wild guess, or do you actually have proof?
Who’s Behind the ‘Reopen’ Protests?
National Conservatives Coordinated State Lockdown Protests
The anti-quarantine protests seem spontaneous. But behind the scenes, a powerful network is helping.
What and who is behind the US anti-lockdown protests?
And not a word about protesters being paid to do so. Wasted your time on a unresponsive answer to the question.
Lol, that is quite a reading list though ....
I think because that is their modus operandi, they think it's everyone else's as well.
GOP donors pay to bus protesters to cities to demand governors ease coronavirus restrictions: report
Just trying to keep the carbon foot print down.
Did you genuinely think that the demonstrators ALL came from the capital? They are still citizens of the state.
Four far left conspiracy stories not one of which said anything about anyone being paid to protest. That the protests went national was obvious to everyone. Aljazeera?
Salon? Another far left publication saying what the first four did. Saying that national groups jumped in to support the movement and that mainstream conservatives associated with the Trump administration have come out and supported the movement. All these coordinated left wing hit piece articles are roughly four weeks old.
Ooh, good try!
Not one word about the protesters being paid, though!
That makes you 0 for2, want to try for the trifecta?
These terrorists are protesting daily.
Paid protesters, I mean terrorists.
So you claim.
Why can't you provide ANY link to PROVE what you claim?
Heck, you can't even prove that they are spreading the virus.
Even this lousy article doesn't claim it!
Carbon foot print? I thought that was one of those things conservatives dismissed?
I should have included the /s. Good catch.
The SARS-CoV-2 virus was spreading widely during lockdown. Social distancing hasn't (and can't) stop spread of the virus.
The goal for shutting down the economy was to protect hospitals; not people. And people are facing bankruptcy either way. So, in the end, it really doesn't matter.
Take your nonsense conspiracy bullshit somewhere else.
No more nonsense than your claim that protesters are being paid, are terrorists, and are spreading the virus!
"The data, provided to the Guardian by the progressive campaign group the Committee to Protect Medicare"
That says it all!
I guess the operative words in the title are "may have"
"If "if" and "buts" were candy and nuts, we'd all have a Merry Christmas"
Says what?
It says they have no damn proof that the protesters spread Covid-19 anywhere. All that it proves is the protesters came from areas other than Lansing. That is fucking it.
Want to get a real scare track the cell phones of truck drives and rail drayman. That would really scare the shit out of the panic stricken left. They literally cross several states, many making multiple stops within each state, and coming into contact with 100's of people every day. Even with face masks and social distancing they have the best chance of spreading the virus. Unless you want to stop fuel, food, mail, hell pretty much everything needed to live- you cannot shut them down.
I deal with truck drivers and drayman every day. I know several personally. Most are very nice people. That being said a few are very sketchy when it comes to personal hygiene at the best of times (especially some of the long haul drivers). You think there aren't a few carriers among these drivers- given the virus can be active for 2 or 3 weeks before any physical signs of infection show?
ALL.
I don't believe you or your alleged experience in the matter.
But yet you believe that people who attended protests or rallies are spreading the virus---all without a shred of proof?
LMMFAO!
SAYS NOTHING, AS USUAL.
Of course these moron inbred terrorists are spreading the virus.
Only a braindead moron would believe otherwise.
Several moron protesters have come down with CO-VID 19
DUH!
So just PROVE what you claim--that they spread the virus and that they contracted it at a protest.
Hell, some school teachers have had the virus. Did they spread it at school?
If you don't wish to hear the answers to your questions, perhaps it would be wise to not ask any more of them.
Seems silly to argue about an answer you asked for.
In other news, China IS responsible for spreading this virus around the globe after they allowed international travel out of their country while shutting down domestic travel inside it.
Much worse juju jobu ....
Just keep repeating that every day, every week, every month, if it makes you feel better.
I have no abject "need' to feel better about "it" but the truth does seem to hurt those who are in denial about it Buzz so perhaps you do.
The only way i'd really feel better about any of this is if they had actually done the right thing and tried to keep the genie in the bottle. But .... it appears they didn't.
The only question now is, was it intentional or was it just plain stupidity.
The initial release of the virus into the environment was the plain stupidity and letting it go beyond China’s borders to the rest of the world was intentional.
Like this 'president' ignoring every warning until around March?
Like this 'president' disassembling the pandemic response team that President Obama put together?
Was that intentional or just plain stupidly?
I call it deadly incompetence and bungling and bumbling.
Nope, not even close
Happened only in a loonie left wing mindset
Another nothing burger
Look to your own bumbling idiots first ...... Pelosi, DeBlasio, Como, etc, etc Now there are some real fuck ups.
I know tRump supporters know nothing of the truth or reality.
Deplorable.
Back to ignore.
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Most Trump "haters" know that Trump is a KNOWN liar, crook, bigot, moron, and cheat.
What else are they supposed to know?
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Economy Boomed …… UNTIL …… The Lying, Cheating and Moronic behavior Kicked in (China Virus)?
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That applies to tRump supporters only.
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Last time, stay on topic.
A good start would be getting the known liar, crook, bigot, moron and cheat out of our national government.
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'The initial release of the virus into the environment was the plain stupidity and letting it go beyond China’s borders to the rest of the world was intentional'
So this conspiracy nonsense?
John - Clinton is no longer in our national government.
The US managed to get to over a million confirmed cases (and likely many, many more) without any help at all from protests. So, it’s kind of ridiculous at this point to set about scapegoating protestors as some kind of primary or otherwise significant spreader of the pandemic.
Not ridiculous. Not scapegoating.
These moron terrorists are spreading the disease.
They're probably Trump followers, so let them spread their joy among themselves and knock off their elders and others who are O'Donnell "bible" thumpers - as Ebeneezer Scrooge observed, perhaps it will reduce the "excess population".
A lot of people are spreading the disease. Do you have evidence that these people are doing more than their share?
His lemmings no longer need cliffs. They now have protest ralleys.
More than willing to look at any evidence you can bring.
BTW, don't bother looking in the seeded article--it ain't there.
Link to your proof for that guess, please.
If only it was confined to the moron terrorists who are spreading the virus.
They are simply engaged in wishful thinking that maybe us rural hicks might have met with someone having the virus at one or more of the state capitals and then spread it to our friends and family all across rural small town America .
Maybe a handful of people think that, but I don't want any more people to get this damn disease.
Look at the priorities of these 'protesters' in Wisconsin for one. They lifted all precautions and people flocked to bars. Bars. No masks. No social distancing.
I dread the report of their numbers increasing.
Even doctors are starting to protest.
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Wow......what a stretch!
I took notice that absolutely NO data was presented regarding cases of Covid-19 from the areas they tracked the cell phones back to after the protests.
Gee, I wonder why?
This article is a nothing-burger of the largest kind.
The hate is strong in these ones ..... their butthurt cream supply must be running low.
Just an extension of the old “ you want to kill grandma to save the stock market” mantra they initially used to try to guilt shame the initial restart the economy protest movement into staying home
Gotta love the "Stupid Phone". It knows "EVERYTHING" (I saw it on the internet.....IT MUST BE TRUE)!
May have? That is like saying the Titanic may have hit an iceberg.
Well, then, perhaps you will have some data to back that claim up. I have asked several times here and not a soul has been able to come up with ANYTHING at all.
P.S. Don't bother looking at the article for it--it simply isn't there.