As people across the United States protest the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police, infectious disease experts and doctors fear the large gatherings will spur more Covid-19 infections and make a second wave of the coronavirus in the fall much worse. .

Preeti Malani, chief health officer and a professor of medicine and infectious disease at the University of Michigan.

To be sure, infectious disease experts and doctors say it's difficult to balance the desire to protest injustice against the risk of infection.

While protesters cannot eliminate coronavirus risk, they can take steps to decrease the spread or chance of getting it, according to interviews with a dozen epidemiologists, doctors and infectious disease specialists.

Infectious disease experts and doctors recommend using hand sanitizer and avoiding physical contact while greeting people, including shaking hands.

Protesters should also wear a face covering and eye protection, said Bob Bednarczyk, an epidemiologist at Rollins school of public health at Emory, adding that yelling is another way the virus can be transmitted.

Some experts are concerned police tactics such as tear gas may cause sneezing and coughing, but Isaac Bogoch, an infectious disease specialist and professor at the University of Toronto, said that may not have much impact on coronavirus spread. .

He also said it's more difficult for the virus to spread outside versus indoors, but cautioned, "in those settings you can't control the environment around you.".

Yanzhong Huang, a public health researcher at the Council on Foreign Relations and director of the Center for Global Health Studies at Seton Hall University, said the trajectory of the virus and potential for another outbreak to a large extent depends on the level and size of population movements.