Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio put a lot of effort into getting Dr. Anthony Fauci to affirm that Black Lives Matter protests, attended by hundreds of thousands of people across the country for weeks and counting, have likely contributed to the spread of the coronavirus.
Jordan was unsuccessful in getting Fauci to say it explicitly at a hearing Friday on Capitol Hill, but anyone watching could see his answer was in agreement.
“Do protests increase the spread of the virus?” asked Jordan.
Fauci said he would only offer a “general statement” that, yes, “crowding together, particularly when not wearing a mask, contributes” to the spread of the coronavirus.
We didn’t really need for Jordan to keep going at that point, but he did.
He asked if the government should then limit protesting, and Fauci explained he’s not in a position to establish policy, only to make health recommendations. (Translation: He’s just as frightened by the loud and angry rioters, and their backers in the media, as much as every other mild-mannered American.)
“Avoid crowds of any type, no matter where you are,” said Fauci, adding that he doesn’t “favor” any one type of crowd over the other.
Jordan was not satisfied with that answer, but it’s clear. Yes, the Black Lives Matter demonstrations, which have continued for two months now, have certainly been a factor in virus infections spiking in recent weeks.
True, some researchers have claimed there’s no evidence that the protests contributed to the spread, but that’s ridiculous. Rep. Louie Gohmert just tested positive for the virus, and everyone in the media was quick to point out that he didn’t like wearing a mask. If he got infected by simply walking around Capitol Hill or traveling to Texas without a mask, how can anyone seriously say that thousands of shouting people gathered together for hours on end didn’t cause an outbreak in positive cases?
Fauci might not want to put a target on his back by explicitly stating it, but he knows the answer to Jordan’s protest question just as well as anyone else does.
