Massive Protests In The United States Could Trigger A Surge In COVID-19 Cases

2023 Author: Abraham Higgins | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-27 23:16

Massive protests in the United States could trigger a surge in COVID-19 cases

Political leaders and health officials in the United States are sounding the alarm: massive demonstrations across the country, provoked by the assassination of George Floyd, could lead to a disastrous spread of the coronavirus.

Photo: Fibonacci Blue

We will remind, on May 25, police in Minneapolis, detained 46-year-old George Floyd (George Floyd) after the store clerk said that the man was trying to pay with counterfeit bills. During the arrest, one of the police officers used a strangulation technique, as a result of which the man died. Floyd's death triggered massive protests across the country, accompanied by looting and attacks on police cars. At the same time, the number of cases of coronavirus in the United States exceeded 1.8 million people, more than 105 thousand people died, according to CNN.

At the same time, despite the restrictive measures, only last Sunday the number of cases increased by 20 thousand people, CNN reports, citing data from Johns Hopkins University. On Monday, officials from the Washington, D. C. Department of Health announced a new peak in the incidence, which is causing the phased lifting of restrictive measures to be postponed indefinitely. In California, the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 increased by 11% in just a day, and an increase in incidence of at least 10% was recorded in another 18 states.

Many political leaders recognized the protesters' right to protest, but called on protesters to wear protective masks and maintain social distance.

“You have the right to protest, but you have no right to infect other people and endanger public health. When you don’t practice social distancing and don’t wear a face shield, you put people at unnecessary risk,”said New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.

He also recalled that the COVID-19 epidemic in the United States has hit the African American part of society particularly hard due to the fact that a huge number of these people live in poverty and do not have access to quality medicine.

“We know that blacks are two to four times more likely to die from COVID-19 than whites,” said Dr. Megan Ranney, emergency room doctor and researcher at Brown University. She also reported disproportionate losses among Hispanics and Indians.

Maryland Governor Larry Hogan announced that mass protests will inevitably lead to a new surge in the incidence.

“Most states have rules not to gather in crowds of more than ten people. Now we see thousands of people gathered in one place. We'll see the results of this in two weeks,”Hogan said.