Many who attended DNC in Chicago have since tested positive for COVID

CHICAGO (CBS) — Democratic National Convention attendees had hoped for Beyoncé on the last night of the event a week ago—but after that letdown, some faced another one upon leaving the United Center in Chicago.
Social media has been buzzing because many attendees tested positive for COVID-19 when they got home.
Doctors say it almost seems like positive test results will be the new normal at big events like the Democratic National Convention—and the only way to avoid it is by taking precautions or getting a vaccination.
This convention was the first in eight years in which Democrats came together for such an event. The 2020 convention was held virtually—specifically because of COVID-19, back at the height of the pandemic and before a vaccine was approved.
But many of those in attendance left with COVID in 2024 too.
“Anybody that’s been on social media this week has seen a lot of posts from people that have a souvenir that they brought back from the DNC, and they post their positive COVID test,” said Dr. Katrine Wallace, an epidemiologist with the University of Illinois Chicago.
Journalists, officials, delegates, and attendees all took their positive COVID test results to social media. Wallace said this was not a surprise.
“What we’ve learned about COVID in the last four years and some is that it likes to spread in crowded indoor spaces—and that’s what that was,” said Wallace, “and there were a lot of people yelling, excited, sharing space, not really taking a lot of precautions.”
Leading up to the DNC, COVID was already on the rise this summer. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a status map on Aug. 16 showing infections growing or likely growing in 27 states—including Illinois.
“And you have people from all those states kind of coming together in Chicago—where we are also in that high category,” said Wallace. “So we have people bringing virus in, we have virus here, now we have people going home.”
Last week, the Food and Drug Administration signed off on an updated COVID-19 vaccine to combat the newest variants amid the surge.
“Anyone here who has not had vaccines since the middle of June, or have been infected since that time, should surely get another dose of this new vaccine,” said Dr. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy at the University of Minnesota.
The Chicago Department of Public Health has yet to release data from the week of the convention. Data from before the convention show a consistent ebb and flow of positive COVID test results—and what appears to be more people getting tested.