Experts thought that the George Floyd protests would cause more people to catch COVID-19. In the United States, however, that did not happen as of July 1. Scientists said this could have been because the number of cases in large cities like New York was already going down, because the protests took place outside, because the protesters mostly wore masks, or because the protesters usually kept moving by walking or marching. Other experts said that because most of the protesters were young, healthy adults, perhaps they did catch COVID-19 and had not noticed.