Cannabis Health Insider

Recent protests in the Unites States have led to a lot of unrest in the country. The police are using tear gas as a means to keep the crowds under control. However, experts have said that the use is only increasing the number of coronavirus cases.

Coronavirus has been actively spreading for the past 8 months. The United States saw one of the worst waves of the virus in the past 30 days. It affected thousands of people, killing hundreds in the span of just a few days. The governments have put majority of the nations in lockdown to control the transmission. However, with every passing day, the cases seem to be increasing.

The recent George Floyd incident was an act of white supremacy. This significantly worsened the situation. Hundreds of protestors came out on the streets to fight for the colored community. The hashtag “#BlacklivesMatter” was trending and numerous people across the globe rose for their support.

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To keep the masses in control, police has been using tear gas and pepper spray. There is a range of side effects of using these compounds. It causes extreme cough and sneezing. Further, it also irritates the eyes, causing temporary blindness.

Side effects of Tear Gas

While, the protests were bad enough for the coronavirus, the use of tear gas has added more risk of contracting the disease. Since, the virus is transmittable through air, the protests alone have caused a drastic increase in the number of new cases per day. Additionally, due to excessive cough caused by the sprays, infectious droplets are released into the air. These are then inhaled by the neighboring protestors, causing an increase in the number of effected people.

Dr. Peter Chin Hong brought this issue to the public. He is a professor of medicine and an infectious disease specialist at University of California in San Francisco.  He said that the use of these harmful sprays cause people to take off their protective masks. It also makes them rub their face and eyes to counter the extreme irritation. Further, the compounds in the sprays also cause inflammation of the lung tissues, making the people more susceptible to infection.

Dr. Hong and more than 1000 other health experts have signed a petition to stop the use of these sprays. Hong said, “It’s easier to spread because people don’t know they’re sick.” According to statistics by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, around 20 to 50 percent of the coronavirus patients are asymptomatic.

Therefore, it is extremely important that the government takes immediate measures to control the further spread of the disease. Currently, the officials have advised the public to wear face masks, use sanitizers and stay at least 6 feet away from each other.

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About the George Floyd Incident

George Floyd was a 46 year old, black man who died in police’s custody in Minnesota. Derek Chaivin, a white police officer was kneeling on Mr. Floyd’s neck as he gasped for air. Floyd was constantly pleading to let him go since he could not breath. He was also unarmed and was constantly complaining of chest pains. Due to lack of empathy from the police officer, Floyd passed away on the spot.