Dozens of Doctors to Trump: Cancel Your Insane Superspreading Rallies, Please

Gov. Tom Wolf also has asked President Donald Trump to stop holding rallies in the state, saying they endanger the lives of Pennsylvanians.

As President Donald Trump’s fans prepare to flock toward Erie International Airport tonight, the number of coronavirus cases in Pennsylvania continues to climb.

That combination concerns some medical professionals.

A group of 75 doctors from across the state sent an open letter to Trump, asking him to stop hosting campaign events.

“We believe the rallies, and President Trump’s rhetoric, increase risks to people’s health and safety,” the letter said. 

First lady Melania Trump was expected to attend the rally. However, she backed out because she has a lingering cough. It would have been her first appearance at a campaign stop since March.

Last month, Gov. Tom Wolf asked Trump to cancel a rally in Harrisburg. The president held the rally, and was diagnosed with the virus just a few days later. State health officials had to ask Pennsylvanians who attended the rally to track their symptoms.

The state has seen 15 straight days of 1,000 new cases since Oct. 6. The last seven days saw an average of 1,460 new cases per day. That’s a striking increase from the first seven days of last month, when the average number of new cases was 834 per day.

The number of people who have been hospitalized because of the virus increased from 422 on Sept. 22 to 918 today. While Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine said officials expect that number to continue to increase, it’s still well below the height of 3,000 hospitalized on one day at the beginning of the outbreak.

On Monday, Levine and Wolf addressed the growing numbers. Levine pointed out there are Increasing incident rates and increasing percent positivity rates in every region of the state. 

“We’ve seen what happens when people don’t wear masks,” Wolf said. “We’ve seen what happens when people don’t practice social distancing. People get sick.”

Levine talked about how people can let their guard down while they’re in small gatherings and, for example, take off their mask.

“However, someone has an asymptomatic case of COVID-19 and it spreads,” she said.

Photos from many of Trump’s rallies have shown people in the crowd not wearing masks.