NEW YORK (VINnews) — As protests over the death of George Floyd erupted around all of America, public health experts warned of a fresh outbreak of the coronavirus due to the lack of maintenance of health regulations during the course of the protests.
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NBC reports that the thousands of Americans congregating in cities across the country could spark a catastrophic setback for controlling COVID-19 in the U.S.
Dr. Katie Passaretti, medical director for infection prevention at Atrium Health in Charlotte, North Carolina told NBC that “it makes me cringe.It’s a setup for further spread of COVID. It’s heartbreaking.”
William Schaffner, a Vanderbilt University infectious diseases expert, told the Boston Herald that the protests are “opportunities for the virus to spread,” adding that “I’m concerned about a spike here and there in the next two to three weeks as a consequence of these demonstrations.”
Mass gatherings with multiple points of contact can lead to chains of transmission, said Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security.
“Anytime people are socially interacting, the virus has an opportunity to transmit,” he said. “There’s also a lot of yelling and shouting during these events, so there are more droplets from people. There’s a concern that can lead to an increase in case transmission.”
Several riots have taken place in the last few days, during which people are running around and exhaling more frequently, Schaffner noted. That can make people more susceptible to catching the virus, he said.
“I’m concerned even more because a lot of the participants in the demonstrations have been people of color, and they have suffered disproportionately from COVID,” Schaffner said. “This virus may get brought home to family and friends in communities of people of color, and I’m concerned about that. We’ll see if that turns out to be true or not.”