The Covid-19 Threat to Protesters Who Get Arrested and Jailed
We are witnessing the ‘syndemic effects of COVID-19, incarceration, and racism’
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Across the country, many of the thousands of demonstrators protesting the murder of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer have been arrested and held in prisons — known hot spots for the spread of the coronavirus.
Though U.S. cities are slowly reopening, the coronavirus is still spreading, with new cases being reported daily. Over 1.8 million confirmed U.S. Covid-19 cases were reported today. By arresting protesters, in some cases en masse, police are putting them and people who are already imprisoned at increased risk of infection with the coronavirus. It’s well established that the coronavirus spreads primarily through close contact, via droplets that are expelled when people talk, sneeze, and shout — not to mention coughing in reaction to tear gas. The social distancing directive to stay six feet apart is rarely possible in correctional facilities, especially those that are packed especially tightly because of mass arrests.
Even before the protests began last week, the Covid-19 situation within prisons was already dire. In early May, David Patton, executive director and attorney in chief of the Federal Defenders of New York, told the medical journal The Lancet that: “It is hard to imagine that the virus is not already rampant throughout the U.S. penal system.” A report released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in mid-May, acknowledging its data was incomplete, showed that nearly 5,000 prisoners and 2,000 staff members had contracted Covid-19 across the U.S., and 103 people had died. The report noted that “new intakes” were a risk factor and urged facilities to promote physical distancing, disinfect shared surfaces, and provide free soap, among a list of other recommendations.
Prisoners share bathrooms, dining halls, and sleeping quarters in overcrowded facilities, making it nearly impossible to achieve the social isolation needed to reduce the spread of the virus. Even before the protests, there were 2.2 million people incarcerated in the U.S. — more than any country in the world.
