Protest Covid-19 concerns

Chattanooga Covid-19 Task force expects virus numbers to rise due to protests.

Over the past few days thousands of protesters have joined together to demand justice for the death of george floyd.

Several hundred protesters have gathered in downtown chattanooga, raising the question about how these gatherings will impact the number of covid-19 cases?

The health department today reports 2 more local deaths, bring our total to 17.

News 12's joeli poole explains.

Since saturday evening, hundreds of people have assembled to raise awareness about racism and police brutality- after the death of george floyd.

But we are still in a global pandemic- so this leaves the question about whether or not these protests will cause a rise in coronavirus cases?

The city of chattanooga's covid-19 task force explains kerry hayes/ chattanooga covid-19 task force " it is obviously concerning to our task force that whenever you have huge numbers of people and at times these protests have reached several hundred people.

The concern is that there will be some spread of the coronavirus.

We are sure it is going to occur and will not be surprised at all at a spike in positivity a few weeks from now as results start to come in."

Joeli poole "throughout the pandemic, the cdc and the city of chattanooga have been encouraging people to wear a mask in public and stay six feet apart."

Kerry hayes with the city of chattanooga says its obvious social distancing will be compromised when there are a lot of people contained in one space.

A chattanooga protester says she did take the risk of getting sick into consideration - but says she couldn't just sit at home and watch.

Bobbie carey/ protester "racism is frankly a larger issue and a lot more people have died from racism than the coronavirus and we need to stop.

This is an older issue and it has killed so many more.

While we need to be safe , this still needs to happen."

As the number of covid-19 cases continues to rise, the city is asking anyone who has been a participant in a protest to get tested within the next few weeks.

For a list of coronavirus testing sites within the county go to wdef dot com in chattanooga, joeli poole, news 12 now.

A city of chattanooga employee has tested