Coronavirus Drives U.S. Political Protest off the Streets and Into Online Forums

At any other time, a divisive U.S. president dealing with a national crisis that is causing severe economic dislocation might bring throngs of demonstrators to the streets of Washington and state capitals across the country.

But the spread of the novel coronavirus, which had killed more than 23,560 people in the United States and infected 584,293 as of Monday night and shut down all but essential travel and businesses, has made physical protests nearly impossible.

Activists representing nurses, flight attendants, civil rights, voting rights, African Americans, people with chronic illnesses, renters and multiple other groups are reassembling online, hoping to influence lawmakers in Congress and officials in the White House.

But their impact may be limited, experts say.

The Poor People’s Campaign, which is demanding that the government’s $2.3 trillion coronavirus relief package better serve poor and low-income people, has converted a planned June 20 march in Washington into an online gathering on that date.

“What we’ve got to do is take everything we had planned to do in the street and do it through social media,” the Rev. William Barber, the campaign co-chair, told Reuters.

“We’re going to give a platform to all of these frontline essential workers who are not being treated like they’re essential,” he said, adding the campaign was gathering advice from film producers and other experts on how to tell stories at the event.

Health Care Voter, which is pushing to preserve the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare, and lower prescription drug costs, had initially planned to do a bus tour in March and April, stopping in 30 cities from California to Maine.

Instead, it is holding digital events, including a March 31 national town hall featuring Democratic U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi that received 400,000 views – unprecedented for the group, campaign director Rosemary Enobakhare said.

“People are at home, honestly, and they want to be able to have these conversations,” said Enobakhare. “People are looking at ways to interact.”