CDC Director Redfield Warns There Is ‘Potential’ for Protests ‘to Be a Seeding Event’ for Coronavirus
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Robert Redfield is suggesting protestors who are gathering amid unrest over George Floyd’s death get tested for the coronavirus. Redfield expressed his desire…
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Robert Redfield is suggesting protestors who are gathering amid unrest over George Floyd’s death get tested for the coronavirus.
Redfield expressed his desire for demonstrators–especially those in metropolitan areas–to “highly consider” being tested for the coronavirus, he told Rep. Lois Frankel (D-Fla.) during Thursday’s House Appropriations subcommittee hearing.
“I do think there is a potential, unfortunately, for this to be a seeding event,” he said. “And the way to minimize that is to have each individual to recognize it’s to the advantage of them to protect their loved ones.”
He continued that people should say, “‘Hey, I was out, I need to go get tested.'” The CDC director then suggested people get tested in about three to five days after going out into the protests to “make sure you’re not infected.”
Frankel then mentioned her question to Redfield as she asked what he advises states to do if they are “overwhelmed and they don’t have the contact tracers.”
“I want to work with the states so they don’t get to that pace,” Redfield responded, adding, “They need to work with us now to make sure … they are overprepared … This is a time to be overprepared.”
There have been large gatherings over the last week for justice over Floyd’s death — whose neck was pinned by a former Minneapolis police officer and who died in police custody on May 25 — with many seen wearing masks, but with little distance from one another.