Public health experts do about-face on social distancing to support protests

Public health experts who backed strict social distancing polices for months during the pandemic have softened that stance to allow for large protests following the death of George Floyd, leading to bitter accusations of double standards.

On Tuesday, 1,288 healthcare professionals and medical students signed their names to an open letter backing the protests on the grounds that it was ideologically justified. “We continue to support demonstrators who are tackling the paramount public health problem of pervasive racism,” they wrote.