Study Shows Recent Demonstrations Are Not Directly Affecting New COVID-19 Cases

Ever since the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers, protests and demonstrations have swept the nation and world, despite the fact that there is a global pandemic going on at the same time.

A new study, published by the National Bureau of Economic Research is showing that there is no evidence that COVID-19 cases increased 2 weeks after the beginning of the protests.

The data set was drawn from 300 large US cities and showed that social distancing measures were increased during the demonstrations. Those who weren’t out protesting were respecting stay at home orders and kept healthy distance from where the events took place.

According to the report:

“Our findings suggest that any direct decrease in social distancing among the subset of the population participating in the protests is more than offset by increasing social distancing behavior among others who may choose to shelter-at-home and circumvent public places while the protests are underway.”

Source:
theGrio