Interesting epidemiology news: a lot of folks predicted the Black Lives Matter protests would cause COVID spikes, and that doesn't seem to be the case. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/black-lives-matter-protests-coronavirus-no-surges?bfsource=relatedmanual

As best we can tell at this time, there's no meaningful difference between COVID rates in cities that had large protests, and nearby cities that didn't (Like Irving TX or Aurora CO).

This is probably NOT "just because protesters are younger and their cases aren't being recorded."

For one thing, we now know that young people do in fact get seriously ill from COVID. The idea that "young folks are immune" has been outdated for months.

For another, there are lots of known outbreak clusters among under-40 folks tied back to going out to bars, clubs, etc.

But we're having a spike in COVID cases right now. If BLM protests didn't cause it, what did?

The timing of the spike tells us it was probably just the end of quarantine, and folks rushing out to restaurants & bars to celebrate.

These social gatherings tended to be indoors, and unmasked (kind of hard to eat with a mask on). As best as we currently know, these are the ideal conditions for spreading COVID.

Whereas BLM protests were held outdoors, & protesters were VERY disciplined about masking up.

Masking & staying outdoors aren't bulletproof. But we do know that both dramatically cut the rate of COVID-19's spread.

Hats off to BLM protesters for having way better hygiene discipline than the US at large. It's amazing what loving yourself a little bit can do!

Here's another fun tidbit: thanks to anonymized cell phone data we can see that while the protests were going on, overall social distancing in cities with protests actually improved.

BECAUSE PEOPLE STOPPED GOING TO RESTAURANTS AND BARS

This squares with personal experience here in Fayetteville. During the protests, the downtown bar/restaurant/shopping district was really quiet.

Then the first weekend after they stopped, it was absolutely packed. Nobody was wearing masks.

So, this is just another reminder to mask up & hang out with friends & family ... outdoors.

If you gotta get food, get takeout!

and seriously, for real, stay the fuck out of bars & restaurants