Cases and Deaths Are Surging in Southern States NOT Because of Vacationers From the North

The numbers of cases and deaths from COVID-19 are surging in the south because states relaxed COVID-19 restrictions too soon, and not, as suggested yesterday by Robert Redfield, Director of the Centers for Disease Control, because of an influx of northern vacationers after Memorial Day. Redfield said that “everything happened around June 12-16” and that there was a “pop” in cases around June 12 to 16 in southern states, speculating that the cases resulted from Northerners driving south to vacation. This is not what the data say.

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