Unfortunately, it depends on who gets to be labelled as 'experts'. Public health official are saying some of the spread has been from protests:
"We’ve been really honest and said from the beginning that for any people that are in crowded situations for long periods of time – which long for us means more than 15 minutes – where you’re in close contact with people, less than six feet apart and people aren’t wearing a cloth face covering you have a heightened risk of either transmitting the virus if you are an asymptomatic spreader, or getting the virus from someone else who is spreading because they also are an asymptomatic spreader."
LA Mayor Garcetti admits 'connection' between coronavirus outbreak and protests, after downplaying link
However, it's been suggested that the effect of increased spreading from protests was offset by other people staying home.
Research Determines Protests Did Not Cause Spike In Coronavirus Cases
Here is another story from NPR:
Parties — Not Protests — Are Causing Spikes In Coronavirus
June 24, 2020 3:23 PM ET
Heard on
All Things Considered
Parties — Not Protests — Are Causing Spikes In Coronavirus
The first part of the article is about what occurred in Bellingham, Whatcom County, WA. Erica Lautenbach is the director of the Whatcom County Health Dept.
"We're finding that the social events and gatherings, these parties where people aren't wearing masks, are our primary source of infection," Lautenbach says. "And then the secondary source of infection is workplace settings. There were 31 related employers just associated with that one party because of the number of people that brought that to their workplace. So for us, for a community our size, that's a pretty massive spread.
And much of that spread, Lautenbach says, is affecting young people.
"...in April of this year, we were really struggling with long-term-care outbreaks. And so about 3 out of 4 people were over the age of 30 and really pretty heavily skewed to 60-plus. And by contrast, in June, we're seeing that now 2 out of 3 people that have contracted this disease are under 29."
That trend is mirrored in Florida, where the
median age for COVID-19 patients dropped from 65 years old in March to 37 in late June. Dr. Cheryl Holder, an associate professor at Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine at Florida International University, says that's partly because young people are getting exposed more.
"It's really basically who gets exposed," Holder tells Morning Edition. "If you look who is staying in and following the guidelines, [it's] older people who are at risk. The older folks got [the message]; the young people, not so much."
More at link.
