While explaining the global COVID-19 scenario, WHO also made a special mention of the current most pressing issue in the US.
The death of 46-year-old African-American ‘George Floyd’ triggered a wave of protests against police violence and racial injustice in the US.
On May 25, 2020, a US police officer pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for a continuous 8 minutes and 46 seconds, which eventually led to Floyd’s death in Minneapolis.
This led to public outrage against racial injustice in the US. In no time, the protests spread to Europe, Africa, and other regions.
“WHO fully supports equality and the global movement against racism. We reject discrimination of all kinds,” the WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement on June 8, 2020.
WHO linked mass protests to the rise of COVID-19 spread. Sources say that demonstrations might have triggered the sudden increase of COVID-19 cases on Sunday.
However, public officials say that they would need two more weeks to assess the spread through these protests, as COVID-19 has a general incubation time of up to 2 weeks.
In this regard, Tedros recommends protestors to follow safety measures during protests.
“We encourage all those protesting around the world to do so safely. Clean your hands, cover your cough, and wear a mask if you attend a protest,” Tedros told protestors.
Local health officials recommend free testing for all demonstrators in Denver, Atlanta and New York, among other US locations.
“Testing everyone that participated in demonstrations would be useful in communities where many new cases are being reported every day. These new cases indicate that transmission is occurring at a high rate in the communities,” says Bill Miller, an epidemiologist and physician at Ohio State University.
While health officials warn the public of the virus spread, the protests around Floyd’s death are likely to continue over the coming days.
Floyd’s burial is scheduled to happen at a private service in Houston Tuesday.
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