De Blasio downplays connection between spike in coronavirus cases in young New Yorkers and protests

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New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said there are a number of factors contributing to the increase in positive coronavirus cases in young adults, while downplaying any possible connection to recent protests in the city.

De Blasio was asked during a press briefing Wednesday whether he felt the protests across the city in response to the death of George Floyd in May in police custody, and focused on the “Defund the Police” movement, contributed to the surge in COVID-19 cases in New Yorkers between the ages of 20 and 29.

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He did not seem to agree.

“I think we’re seeing this around the country. I do think the crisis has hit younger people in a really challenging way,” de Blasio said. “And I think they’ve been yearning to get out and are used to, you know, a very outward focus in life.”

De Blasio added that in New York City and around the country, when bars and restaurants reopened “first and foremost, it was younger folks going out.”

“I don’t know if you ... we can pass, exactly, parties, protests, whatever, but I do think it’s part of the reality of what young people are responding to after a long period of time where there are very, very limited options,” de Blasio said.

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City health official Dr. Jay Varma said they would “continue to learn more” as the city does “investigations and understands what the connections are.”

“For now, really the highest priority is to keep strengthening our messaging to people from every background, particularly those who were between 20 and 29,” Varma said, adding “the importance of wearing face coverings, keeping social distance, avoiding large gatherings, and also, of course, trying to get tested as frequently as possible, especially if you feel like you've had an exposure.”

Meanwhile, last week, Fox News asked de Blasio’s office whether it believed those protests could have caused any sort of increase in COVID-19 cases in the city – something they denied.

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"Based on our health indicators, which measure hospital admissions, number of people in ICU and percentage of New Yorkers testing positive, we have seen no indication of an uptick in cases," Avery Cohen, de Blasio's deputy press secretary, told Fox News.

Cohen added that the number of New Yorkers testing positive "remains at a steady 2 percent, far below the nationwide average," and that, "at this time, we do not believe there has been a resurgence in cases related to the protests, which reached their peak over a month ago.”

Last month, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo  warned that those who had been participating in protests should “assume” that they are “infected.”

“If you were at one of those protests, I would, out of an abundance of caution, assume that you are infected,” Cuomo said last month. “One person, one person can infect hundreds if you were at a protest.”

He added: “You went to a protest, get a test. Tell people, act as if you may have been exposed.”