L.A. County Public Health Director says it's 'highly likely' mass protests responsible for surge in coronavirus cases

Greg P. | 1:55 PM on June 23, 2020

As coronavirus cases increase in California. . .

In California, the rate of positive COVID-19 tests are going up, hospitalizations are going up, and ICU admissions are going up. https://t.co/tOZiZCNafP

— Matt Pearce ? (@mattdpearce) June 22, 2020

. . . L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer says it’s “highly likely” this surge is “connected to mass protests”:

"It’s 'highly likely' that the surge is connected to mass protests that erupted in recent weeks over the death of George Floyd, L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said." https://t.co/aqhUIp4LVN

— Matt Pearce ? (@mattdpearce) June 22, 2020

But the next line from the Los Angles Times article tells us we will never know because contact tracers were ordered not to ask about protests:

But because contact tracers do not track cases that stem from public settings, it’s often impossible to pinpoint the origin of spread at such events, particularly given that the protests occurred while the county was lifting many of its stay-at-home restrictions.

Remember, they’re the party of science but not when the science might make them look bad:

Since LA Dept of Public Health's "Dr." Barbara Ferrer assured ppl they won't be asked if they rioted/protested at COVID testing sites, we'll never have "the data" to determine if the mass gatherings eventually cause a spike. Hmm. From @jenvanlaar https://t.co/kMmKmgF52x

— RedState (@RedState) June 15, 2020

In today's LA County update, @lapublichealth director Barbara Ferrer says protests are explicitly allowed under the reopening order.

"The ability for people to protest in a peaceful way is in fact one of only two event gatherings that are allowed across the state," she said.

— Carla Javier (@carlamjavier) May 29, 2020

And we’ll note libs are not happy with her linking the surge to the mass gatherings: