But in NYC, de Blasio’s office says ‘we do not believe there has been a resurgence in cases related to the protests’
Several big-city mayors and top officials are acknowledging that weeks of anti-police protests and riots may have contributed to surging coronavirus rates, weeks after Democrats and even some epidemiologists openly encouraged Black Lives Matter allies to demonstrate in the streets.
In public statements and interviews with Fox News this weekend, officials in Los Angeles, Seattle and Miami-Dade County, Fla., have indicated that some link between protests and new cases was at least possible. Still, many officials declined to comment when contacted by Fox News this weekend, and others – including New York Mayor Bill de Blasio’s office – disputed that the protests had caused any issue.
“Based on our health indicators, which measure hospital admissions, number of people in ICU and percentage of New Yorkers testing positive, we have seen no indication of an uptick in cases,” Avery Cohen, de Blasio’s deputy press secretary, told Fox News.
WNBC reported on July 4 that “over the course of a week, New York’s daily death toll has stayed constant, but its percentage of positive coronavirus cases rose four days straight.” New York City, though, has seen cases steadily decreasing over the last few months, while Los Angeles, Seattle and Miami have seen recent spikes.
Responding to that report, Cohen asserted that the number of New Yorkers testing positive “remains at a steady 2 percent, far below the nationwide average,” and that, “at this time, we do not believe there has been a resurgence in cases related to the protests, which reached their peak over a month ago.”
Cohen’s public Twitter feed explicitly praised the Black Lives Matter movement and encouraged mass protests. One June 28 post retweeted by Cohen read: “Are you ready to flood the streets to fight for Black lives and against police brutality and reclaim our roots of pride? Join us today at 1 PM at FOLEY SQUARE.”
New York officials were previously less tolerant of mass gatherings — at least, for certain religious groups. In April, de Blasio told the Jewish community that “the time for warnings has passed” after he said a funeral gathering had violated social distancing guidelines.
New York’s current position differs markedly from assessments by officials in Los Angeles and elsewhere. Last Wednesday, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti acknowledged that public protests likely were causing a coronavirus spike, just two days after claiming there wasn’t “any conclusive evidence” showing a connection between the two. De Blasio, like Garcetti, has defended demonstrators, saying they were participating in a “historical moment.”
The mayor had announced a curfew last week after it was determined that roughly 2,300 of Florida’s 10,109 new coronavirus infections originated in Miami-Dade.
“This curfew is meant to stop people from venturing out and hanging out with friends in groups, which has shown to be spreading the virus rapidly,” Giménez said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan‘s office directed Fox News to city health official James Apa, who downplayed the role of protests while still acknowledging they may have played a role in some new cases.
“No single exposure site has been the primary driver for our increase in cases,” Apa said. “Top contributors include infections from other people in households, essential workers being exposed on the job and infections within long term care facilities. From what we can tell, protests were not a major factor.”
Pressed on whether protests could have contributed to the coronavirus upswing, Apa indicated that any impact was probably marginal.
“A small percentage of the total number of cases reported going to a protest, which may or may not mean they acquired it there,” he said. “Protests are not driving our upsurge in cases.”
An Atlanta police officer currently faces a potential death penalty sentence for killing a black man who attempted to shoot the officer with his own taser during a DUI stop; that officer’s stepmother later spoke to Fox News about why she was fired from her job as well.