Public health experts worry that protests can spread virus
Thousands of people across the Bay Area hit the streets over the weekend to protest the killing of a black man by police in Minneapolis, and infectious disease expert John Swartzberg’s first thought, watching the peaceful demonstrations from his home in Lafayette, was: “I’m so grateful. I hope the world hears them.”
And his next was: “Wow, so many of them aren’t wearing masks.”
In the middle of the coronavirus pandemic — and as most of the Bay Area remains under strict orders to shelter in place — mass gatherings are about the least advisable activity for controlling spread of a highly infectious disease. But public health experts like Swartzberg of UC Berkeley acknowledge that in a time of national civic unrest and deplorable social injustice, the drive to speak out may supersede the desire to lie low and stay safe.
Large crowds are prime sources of socalled superspreader events, where dozens of people may be exposed to the virus at once then disperse to their home communities, where they may infect many others. Public health authorities worldwide already have noted several such events — at churches and nightclubs, and in Italy at a soccer game — have triggered massive clusters.
George Floyd was killed May 25, when a police officer knelt on his neck for several minutes. The protests over his death started in Minneapolis but quickly spread across the United States to dozens of cities, and demonstrations — mostly peaceful, but some devolving into violence — flared in the Bay Area all weekend.
The protests came as the Bay Area gradually moves to lift stayhome restrictions, even amid local surges in new cases. Alameda County especially has struggled with recent spikes in COVID19, and Oakland was the site of multiple weekend demonstrations. Several Bay Area counties said Monday that they still planned to ease certain social distancing restrictions this week, even as they recognized that the region may see increases in cases due to the protests.
The dual crises put public health authorities in a difficult place, between protecting their communities from a deadly disease and acknowledging the ongoing trauma of police brutality against people of color, said Kimi WatkinsTartt, director of the Alameda County Public Health Department.
“How do you choose between two tragedies? You can’t,” WatkinsTartt said in an interview.
“Being in this pandemic is a tragedy. And that man losing his life is a tragedy, and people are hurting and that’s a tragedy. And as a public health leader, I can’t choose — I can’t say which one is more important. They’re all important.
“And so, I just — everyone be careful. Try to be as safe as possible,” she said. “We do need change. This has to stop.”
Contra Costa County public health officials said in a statement that they “can't recommend a safe way for people to gather in large crowds — congregating in large groups, unfortunately, is a highrisk activity prohibited by our existing health order.”
Santa Clara County said in a statement that officials recognize “that peaceful protest in response to the pain, anger and mourning due to deeply rooted inequities and systemic racism is a fundamental right that is critical to the health of our democracy.”
The county urged people who have attended protests to get tested for the coronavirus within three to five days, and to “watch for any symptoms of COVID19.”
And in San Francisco, public health officials issued a list of precautions demonstrators can take, including wearing face coverings, not touching people or shared objects like protest signs, and standing 6 feet from others when possible — farther if someone is yelling and not wearing a mask.
Whether the protests lead to new disease outbreaks won’t be clear for another week or two, the incubation period of the coronavirus. And even if there are upticks in cases, infectious disease experts said it may be challenging to pin them to the protests without thorough contact tracing efforts.
Shannon Bennett, chief of science with the California Academy of Sciences, said that though it alarmed her to see so many people gathering so closely together while the virus is still a threat, she understood their motivation.
“Peaceful protest is so fundamental to who we are,” Bennett said. “But the power of peaceful protest is that you are doing it together, and you’re physically with a community and sending a concentrated message. And yet we are sheltering in place for a reason. If we gather, if we form these physical communities, there’s no doubt we’re going to increase the virus. I don’t have a good answer.”
Infectious disease experts said they were encouraged to see many demonstrators wearing face coverings and seeming to maintain physical distancing even among crowds. The fact that the protests take place outside further lowers the risk of transmission, said George Rutherford, a UCSF infectious disease expert.
But Rutherford said he was concerned that not everyone was wearing a mask. He noted that protests involve a lot of yelling, chanting and singing — all activities that release more respiratory droplets into the environment and lead to more spread of illness.
That many of the protests have turned violent, or have involved aggressive police responses, also is worrisome, Rutherford added. People getting hit with tear gas and pepper spray will probably touch their eyes and nose more, putting them at increased risk of exposure. Police forcing crowds into tight spaces could also be problematic.
Rachel Jackson, a longtime protest organizer who helped lead a racial justice rally in East Oakland on Monday, said taking the coronavirus into consideration played heavily into her planning for the gathering. She said it’s unfortunate that many people in big protest gatherings are not wearing masks or physically distancing.
At her noontime rally and march on Monday, which she helped conduct as a leader in the economic justice group People’s Strike Bay Area, the 50 people who showed up were given masks if they didn’t have them. Most people wore masks throughout the event, which started downtown and ended in East Oakland, and distancing was generally respected.
“Holding a demonstration in this age of coronavirus does require a real risk assessment,” Jackson said. “We are encouraging everyone who participates to wear masks and respect social distancing.”
WatkinsTartt, with Alameda County, said she appreciated that part of the anger driving the protests comes from months of people sheltering in isolation, enduring economic hardships, and for communities of color, carrying a disproportionate burden of illness.
“This was like a match to kindling,” she said. “That’s what makes me feel so angry. We should not be dealing with this now. We should only have to worry about this pandemic.
“But that’s where we are though,” she added. “And as a public health department, we’ll do our job. If the numbers increase, we will staff up, we will lean in, we’ll work harder.”