Death can attract a crowd.
That’s been proven several times since the Trump administration relaunched federal executions over the summer. Crowds of people have gathered in or near the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute to either witness the deaths, protest them or help carry them out.
Since July, eight people have been put to death about two hours from Evansville. And that pace is set to accelerate soon, with five more men scheduled to die.
All that sparks the usual debate around the morality of capital punishment. But another concern is starting to bloom, too: will the executions, and the people they attract, lead to outbreaks of COVID-19?