Page 21 - Florida Sentinel 6-26-20

Health
For weeks, Bruno Estrada dili- gently followed all the recommenda- tions to stave off the coronavirus. He washed his hands frequently, worked from home, and left his house in Queens, NY, only to walk his dog and go grocery shopping. He avoided public transit to stay away from crowds.
But over the last week, Estrada has been among the hundreds of thou- sands of Americans who have defied or- ders designed to slow down the spread of the coronavirus and taken to the streets in protests sparked by anger, frustration, and sadness over the death of George Floyd. Floyd, an African American man, died in custody of Min- neapolis police officers who have been charged in his death.
As they take in the images of mass gatherings for a second week, public health officials around the country worry they’re going to see more coron- avirus cases and hospitalizations of pa- tients with severe symptoms of COVID-19. There are reports of protest- ers who have tested positive for the virus, including a football player for
Oklahoma State University who took part in a demonstration in Tulsa.
“This is an especially difficult time for our country, and we certainly want to do everything we can to support everybody involved, because health and safety go hand in hand,” says Umair A. Shah, MD, the executive director of Harris County Public Health in Texas. “We just don’t want to go backward.”
Estrada, a 29-year-old environ- mental awareness educator, learned this week he had antibodies that likely show he has already been infected once. Still, he says taking to the streets to sup- port friends who have been assaulted by officers was worth the risk of getting the virus a second time because “to me, it felt irresponsible not to stand up for the values of human life.”
“It feels like the last straw,” he says.
Estrada says he’s going out of his way to keep himself and fellow protest- ers safe. He wears multiple masks, a long-sleeve shirt, goggles, and a hat when he goes out. When he gets home, he takes a shower, places his clothes in the laundry as soon as he can, and dis-
infects surfaces more often. He says he’s being more vigilant now in part to pro- tect his parents, who had headaches, body aches, fevers, and other COVID-19 symptoms about 2 months ago.
Bruno Estrada, left, at a recent demonstration in New York City to protest the death of George Floyd.
Similar Action Needed
Public health experts are hoping other protesters are as diligent and con- scientious as Estrada. More than 100,000 people in the U.S. have died from the virus, and African Americans and Hispanics appear to be dispropor- tionately affected by COVID-19.
Some are urging people to get tested after they protest and self-quar- antine after.
As an extra measure to help curb the spread of the virus, Shah encour- ages protesters to get a coronavirus test about 5 days after they attend demon- strations -- even if they don’t have symptoms -- to protect their families,
friends, and fellow marchers.
Some communities around the
country are working to add testing sites, in part because of the protests. Georgia. Gov. Brian Kemp a said this week that certain counties would have more testing sites starting next week.
In Dallas County, TX, officials are trying to add testing centers that are easy to get to, says Philip Huang, MD, director of the county’s health de- partment. There are two drive-thru lo- cations, but testing is limited to people with chronic health conditions such as asthma or heart disease, people over 65, people with a cough, police officers, and others. The North Texas county has the second-highest number of reported cases in the state -- more than 10,000.
Experts are giving demonstrators and first responders who are at the protests the same advice they’ve been driving home for at least 3 months: Wear masks to protect others, use hand sanitizer when needed, wash your hands as often as you can, and stay at least 6 feet away from each other. They also say protesters should stick to hold- ing signs, stay away from the center to avoid being boxed in around a bunch of people, and not chant at the protests, because a recent study found that speaking can cause droplets of the virus to remain in the air for several minutes. Speaking loudly makes that worse.
People who are sick or are vulnera- ble to infection, the experts say, should stay away from those gatherings and find other ways to express their feelings and show support to the demonstrators,
such as making donations or making signs.
As states have begun easing lock- down restrictions, some states -- espe- cially in the South and West -- have seen flare-ups in cases. While some cases may be linked to the demonstrations, Theresa Cullen, MD, public health director of Arizona’s Pima County Health Department, was among experts who cautioned against pinning new cases on protesters. In the weeks lead- ing up to the demonstrations, several states allowed restaurants, hair salons, and other businesses to reopen, and many families and friends gathered to celebrate recent holidays.
“There’s so much -- from the scien- tific perspective -- there so much that we don’t know about COVID-19,” Cullen says. “But we do know that close proximity puts people at risk.”
The risk of getting the virus -- or transmitting it -- is not far from Zhaira Costiniano’s mind.
Costiniano, 24, an assistant di- rector at an art gallery in Dallas, says she got tested for the coronavirus this week after attending several protests. She says she’s been diligent about using masks and hand sanitizer at protests, and she’s keeping up a rigorous disin- fection routine at home. If she tests pos- itive for the virus, she’ll stay home.
“Unfortunately,” Costiniano says, “you can’t wait for a pandemic to be overtospeakupthewayalotofus across the nation are speaking up right now. A lot of us are trying to be mindful that there is a pandemic going on.”
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