[Farm93]

I might have missed it earlier in this thread [and, if so, I apologize], but can someone explain how one can realistically and effectively contact-trace tens [hundreds?] of thousands of participants in mass protests spreading over several nights in many of the nation's major cities?  And, if that isn't possible, given what has actually happened over the past 2 weeks or so, isn't the absence of effective contact tracing perhaps not as consequential as it otherwise might have been [i.e., an awful lot of problems are going to arise from the protests that sort of dwarf the inability to perfectly contact-trace a neighbor's multi-family Memorial Day BBQ]?

I can help here with this a bit.
The injustice inspiring the protest has killed far more citizens than this virus will ever be able to kill.   So if a few thousand more die to raise awareness of our nation's original sin then that will be an acceptable sacrifice for many fighting that cause.

For spread concerns related to COVID, the protests were outdoors (good) and generally people do not stay near the same people for lengthy periods of time unless they are their friends or family (good).   A protest like that tends to have people moving between different individuals over the duration of the event.   That frequent shuffling is critical because getting exposed to the virus and having a sufficient viral load likely requires staying near those shedding the virus for a sustained period of time, especially if the two people were outside.

Let's contrast that to Memorial day BBQs.   Of course I will assume the BBQ was honoring our brave citizens that lost their lives fighting for our freedom.   If it was just an excuse to BBQ some hot dogs with friends, then the little BBQ really shouldn't have happened given our COVID pandemic.   That BBQ would have had the same group of 10-20 people in the same house or the same backyard for hours (bad)   In that scenario if any single person at the BBQ was COVID positive it would be rather likely that those that sat near them for a movie, shared food with them at the BBQ or talked with them for a long duration might get the virus.

As we have really lousy tracing in the USA we likely will never know which activity group produced more COVID cases.   Though it is likely both events will add to our summer case, hospitalization and death tallies.

[Farm93]

I might have missed it earlier in this thread [and, if so, I apologize], but can someone explain how one can realistically and effectively contact-trace tens [hundreds?] of thousands of participants in mass protests spreading over several nights in many of the nation's major cities?  And, if that isn't possible, given what has actually happened over the past 2 weeks or so, isn't the absence of effective contact tracing perhaps not as consequential as it otherwise might have been [i.e., an awful lot of problems are going to arise from the protests that sort of dwarf the inability to perfectly contact-trace a neighbor's multi-family Memorial Day BBQ]?

I can help here with this a bit.
The injustice inspiring the protest has killed far more citizens than this virus will ever be able to kill.   So if a few thousand more die to raise awareness of our nation's original sin then that will be an acceptable sacrifice for many fighting that cause.

For spread concerns related to COVID, the protests were outdoors (good) and generally people do not stay near the same people for lengthy periods of time unless they are their friends or family (good).   A protest like that tends to have people moving between different individuals over the duration of the event.   That frequent shuffling is critical because getting exposed to the virus and having a sufficient viral load likely requires staying near those shedding the virus for a sustained period of time, especially if the two people were outside.

Let's contrast that to Memorial day BBQs.   Of course I will assume the BBQ was honoring our brave citizens that lost their lives fighting for our freedom.   If it was just an excuse to BBQ some hot dogs with friends, then the little BBQ really shouldn't have happened given our COVID pandemic.   That BBQ would have had the same group of 10-20 people in the same house or the same backyard for hours (bad)   In that scenario if any single person at the BBQ was COVID positive it would be rather likely that those that sat near them for a movie, shared food with them at the BBQ or talked with them for a long duration might get the virus.

As we have really lousy tracing in the USA we likely will never know which activity group produced more COVID cases.   Though it is likely both events will add to our summer case, hospitalization and death tallies.