Riots to Test COVID-19 Public Health Protocols

By

Dan Perkins

Over 30 cities in the United States have been struck by riots and insurrection, affecting tens of thousands and perhaps hundreds of thousands of people. Authorities believe that people from other states were present at many of the riots across the country. The mayor of St. Paul, Minnesota said that one night all the people arrested were from out-of-town.

Now I know what I’m about to say will sound crazy, but I don’t think the protesters, the anarchists, the police, or the National Guard practiced safe distancing. I could see some people with masks, but I saw many more without masks. We had tens of thousands of people gathering with no attention as to whether any of these people had been tested for COVID-19 before they took to the streets.

The rioters were placed in buses or vans when they were arrested, on their way to the police station to be processed, again with no safe distancing nor masks. I can’t tell you the number of reports that I read over the last week there was not one report indicated that all the people arrested were tested for COVID-19. It seemed none of the protocols directed by the CDC were followed. I would guess that with all the pushing and shoving, yelling, and screaming, those protest crowds could be breeding grounds for COVID-19.

The last story I saw was about Los Angeles, where about 1400 people were arrested; it could be much higher now. Did the City of Los Angeles have the ability to safely incarcerate 1400 people, providing for a 6-foot safety zone around each person? I don’t think so. I don’t think any of the cities had incarceration facilities that would comply with the CDC directions.

As the riots wind down and the people are released from the jails, they’re going back to their communities, whether local or out-of-state, possibly bringing significant COVID-19 carriers back to their homes, their families, and their communities.

Thirty cities across the country have been identified as places where outbreaks of rioting took place. Since apparently none of the CDC protocols were used, if any person was infected in any of the riots, in the next 2 to 3 weeks we should see if the number of COVID 19 cases escalates in those cities. But what if they don’t; what if there are no significant increases in the virus cases in these 30 cities?

What does it say about the value of the protocols if a large group of people followed none of them, and there was no significant change in the number of cases 2 to 3 weeks out? It would be unrealistic to expect that with tens of thousands of people involved in the riots that no one had the virus. So, if tens of people, if not hundreds of thousands, ignore the CDC protocols and there is no significant change in the number of COVID-19 cases, then we have to decide if the CDC protocols are of any value.

If we don’t see a significant change in the number of cases, I would expect to see even more people questioning why we are so restrictive in the reopening of our economy. This would be the most extensive single study done so far on the impact of COVID-19 on any world population.

I would not have any credibility if I didn’t write about the other side. That is there are a major increase in the cases in all 30 of these cities across the country. In that case, the looters and rioters will be responsible for spreading the virus to perhaps hundreds of thousands of people. Should the rioters and looters be held accountable for the deaths of those people they infect? If the protest and riots took place over five or six days, we would have no way of knowing if the same rioters and anarchists came back every night, or were there new people coming in and replacing others. We will never know how many people were actually involved in the riots, nor will we know how many new cases of COVID-19 can be directly attributed to the offenders.

Finally, what about law enforcement’s responsibilities to the mayors, governors, and citizens. Many law enforcement personnel sat back and didn’t respond, and so, in turn, let the anarchists burn their cities. To be fair, the rioters greatly outnumbered the police forces. However, by doing nothing upfront, these government officials empowered the anarchists to be more aggressive and cause more damage.

Nothing says more about the lack of political leadership than the mayor of Minneapolis’s decision to abandon the third precinct police station and let it be destroyed by the anarchists.

Finally, watch the Johns Hopkins COVID-19 case/death map in about two weeks, as I think we may see more stories about new COVID-19 infections. I hope I’m wrong, but these riots may turn out to be the deadliest ever in the world, and the scary part is, the anarchists may well have a new tool to intimidate political leaders by threatening to attack communities with a fatal virus.

Dan Perkins is a published author of 4 novels on nuclear and biological terrorism against the United States and is a current events commentator for over 20+ news blogs. He recently has had commentaries posted on Flag&Cross and Clash Daily. He appears on radio and TV regularly many times a month. Dan’s newest show is called “America’s Cannabis Conversation,” on the W420radionetwork.com. More information on Perkins can be found on his web site: danperkins.guru