Testing sites shut down as violence grips cities, risking spread of virus.
Mass protests over police brutality have shuttered coronavirus testing sites, complicated efforts to track people who have been exposed and set off fears among local officials that the unrest could spark fresh waves of virus infection.
Testing sites in Pennsylvania, Florida, California and Illinois closed after violence broke out over the weekend, limiting cities’ ability to track the virus just as thousands of people participate in crowded demonstrations across the country.
It comes at a risky time. Public health officials are already worried about caseloads rising and hospitals filling as states reopen and people venture out — sometimes in defiance of ongoing social distancing guidelines. And many of the neighborhoods affected by the violence are already bearing a disproportionate burden of the epidemic, as black Americans are getting sick and dying at far higher rates than white Americans.
“Based on the way the disease spreads, there is every reason to expect that we will see new clusters and potentially new outbreaks moving forward,” U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams told POLITICO after attending a White House meeting on the protests. Adams, among the few high-ranking African American health officials in the Trump administration, said he also understands the anger that propels the demonstrations.
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Testing sites are being shut down as violence grips cities, risking the spread of coronavirus https://t.co/ue9j5lasQ6
— POLITICO (@politico) June 2, 2020
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