I live in Pennsylvania. Being in a swing state has both advantages and disadvantages.

On the plus side our votes for President are important.

On the minus side, we probably get more political ads than other folks. And this year there is another big negative. President Trump has held several rallies around the state.

The big disadvantage to that is that attendees at these rallies tend not to wear masks and are not good about social distancing. Generally, they fail to follow good public health practice. President Trump’s rallies have been called super-spreader events for COVID-19. And the data would seem to indicate this is the case (see Trump Rallies Are Often Followed by Increases in Local COVID-19 Cases.

So it seems that President Trump is driving up the numbers of COVID-19 cases in Pennsylvania and other a swing states. This puts me and millions of others at higher risk of illness and death. Some years the disadvantages of being in a swing state are greater than usual.