Trump loyalists overtake the U.S. Capitol Maranie Rae Staab/Redux
Public health officials will not know for weeks exactly how many new COVID cases are linked to the Capitol Hill riots, but they say the riots could turn out to be a super spreader event.
“I am very concerned,” Dr. Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at the Georgetown Center for Global Health Science and Security, told ABC News. “Rioters were in very close proximity for long periods of time, shouting, and exposed to chemical irritants, leading to coughing. Many of them were unmasked. These are all conditions that are very conducive to [COVID-19] transmission.”
Republican State Rep. Mike Caruso of Florida told ABC News he is concerned about people returning from the D.C. riot and spreading the virus.
“I would ask them to quarantine when they do come back and to go get tested,” Caruso said, adding that “before anyone flies, they should be tested.”
“It’s extraordinary and negligent that rioters were not arrested and detained at the event, as this would have been an opportunity to contain new cases and prevent the spread to other communities,” Rasmussen added. “It was a huge failure of law enforcement to allow the perpetrators of a violent attempted coup to continue to be a major threat to public safety as well as public health.”
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Article URL : https://abcnews.go.com/Health/capitol-hill-riot-prove-covid-19-superspreader-event/story?id=75134968