Did Black Lives Matter protests save lives? Hacktivist group Anonymous says it encouraged 'social distancing'
It's been over four months of lockdown and the coronavirus crisis doesn't seem to be coming to a close anytime soon. As the deadly virus gripped nations across the world, there was another catastrophe in the United States after George Floyd's death and Black Lives Matter protests.
With over 2.6 million confirmed cases, the death toll has risen to more than 129,000 and many are blaming the movement and President Donald Trump's negligence for the upsurge. Amid all the chatter, hacktivist group Anonymous shared a report on how "Black Lives Matter protests did not cause an uptick in COVID-19 cases" and tweeted, "BLM saved lives in cities where protests were or are being held by encouraging social distancing and shutting down businesses that would have otherwise become vectors of the plague."
While their statement may be debatable, many Twitter users actually came out to support the streak of thought, citing how the protesters wore masks and maintained distances. "It's not the cause there were protests worldwide but only we seem to be spiking significantly," one said and another posted, "Exactly!! like s**t people wanna blame the protesters when they were taking extra precaution every step of the way."
One said, "Thousands of Trump supporters protesting against science and insisting that they're 'oppressed' by having to stay home and wear masks compared to peaceful non-violent marches on streets with precautions taken in place (use of masks and sanitizers) voicing an overdue social issue." Another said, "Only 1% of the population protested. Much more likely that reopening the economy where nearly everyone is going out and about is the cause of the spikes." One posted, "Sars-Cov-2 indeed has a weird trait where it easily dies outside. So logically protests shouldn't be a big deal in spreading it."
Many others joined in and shared their experiences. "Interesting. Nearly everyone was masked at the protests I went to and being outdoors isn't much of a risk anyway," one posted and another wrote, "One of the protests I went to had it where they asked people who refused to wear masks to go home because they didn't want anyone getting sick, but they also provided as many as they could."
However, there were many others who didn't agree with the thought. "This is the popular narrative media is pushing. Thanks for clarifying. More like the opposite," one posted and another tweeted, "This must be satire." Another said, "I wonder how many Republicans don’t wear masks during protest and rally?"