Viral misinformation about immigrants spreading COVID proves false

With the resurgence of coronavirus cases precipitated by the Delta variant, there has been a resurgence of scapegoating. Several prominent political leaders have blamed migrants crossing the southern border specifically for the uptick in cases. 

As the New York Times and the Washington Post explain in separate a fact checker stories, the governors of Florida and Texas have pointed to the Biden administration’s border policies as a primary cause of the new cases. Governor DeSantis of Florida claimed without providing proof, “[Biden’s] imported more virus from around the world by having a wide open southern border. Whatever variants are across the world, they’re coming through that southern border.” Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas and other Texas officials made a similar claim on Fox News: “The Biden administration is allowing people to come across the southern border, many of whom have Covid, most of whom are not really being checked for Covid.”

Government officials say that migrants have seen increased cases in recent weeks. However, the increases in testing positivity for migrants are lower than for many others in the U.S. — approximately 16% positivity for migrants near the Rio Grande region and 17.5% for the general public in the same region, excluding migrants. Also, public health experts say there is no evidence that migrants were driving the surge of coronavirus. In the New York Times interview, Max Hadler, the Covid-19 senior policy expert at Physicians for Human Rights, a nonprofit advocacy group, said:

“It’s not a border issue or a migrant issue, it’s a national issue. And it’s a particularly major issue in states with lower vaccination rates… That’s the clearest and most important correlation, and it has nothing to do with migrants but rather with rates of vaccination among people living in those states.”

Furthermore, the four variants of concern tracked by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta — did not initially enter through the southern border. Dr. Katherine Peeler at Harvard Medical School noted that the Delta variant was first identified in India last year, that the U.S. reported its first case in March, that Mexico did not report its first case until July, and that El Salvador did nto report its first case until last week. Also, delta is more widespread in the United States than in most of Latin America.  As such, “This is not an issue of increasing Delta variant from the southern border and those seeking asylum,” Dr. Peeler said.

When asked about data, Governor DeSantis’ press secretary said the governor never implied that migration was the only reason for the spread of the virus, but rather he was simply highlighting “the paradoxical nature of the Biden administration’s support for additional restrictions on Americans and lawful immigrants,” like vaccine passports, “while allowing illegal migrants to cross the border and travel through the country freely.” Governor Abbott’s office did not reply.

MHC