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1,288 Health Experts: Lockdown Protests Dangerous, George Floyd Protests 'Vital'

An open letter signed by 1,288 public health, infectious disease and community professionals urged officials not to break up the protests after George Floyd's death on COVID-19 grounds, while saying anti-lockdown protests did not deserve the same support. Critics say the double standard did lasting damage to public health credibility and was rarely revisited.

Jun 1, 2020
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Whose side it served: Neither party

The double standard favored a progressive cause, but it was set by health professionals rather than a party.

What the record shows

The letter, dated June 1, 2020 and spurred by infectious-disease specialists at the University of Washington, gathered 1,288 signatures before it closed. It called the protests 'vital to the national public health' and said 'white supremacy is a lethal public health issue that predates and contributes to COVID-19.' It expressly did not extend that support to protests against stay-home orders, describing them as 'rooted in white nationalism' and citing the armed protest at the Michigan Capitol. The letter drew national coverage in its first week (CNN, the Washington Times and others), mostly as a news item. No published count of later coverage was found, so the claim that it was 'memory-holed' is not measured; critics' argument rests on how seldom outlets returned to it in later debates over lockdowns and trust in public health.

In their words

“Open letter, June 2020: "White supremacy is a lethal public health issue that predates and contributes to COVID-19."”— · source
The other side

A National Bureau of Economic Research working paper (Dave et al., June 2020) found no evidence that the protests increased COVID-19 case growth across 315 large cities, partly because non-protesters stayed home more. Signers argued that racism itself was a health threat that had to be weighed against infection risk.

Sources

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