Atlanta Mayor Keisha Bottoms tests positive for COVID-19 after attending protests

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Bottoms announced Monday that she tested positive for COVID-19, weeks after having attended protests stemming from police killings of black people, according to the Daily Wire.

Bottoms said she did not have any symptoms, besides some that are similar to seasonal allergies. She told MSNBC that she got tested only because her husband was sleeping more than usual and that she was fully surprised by the results.

"It leaves me for a loss of words because I think it really speaks to how contagious this virus is," Bottoms said. "We've taken all the precautions that you can possibly take. I have no idea when and where we were exposed."

Although it may be impossible to know where or how she got the virus, Bottoms did attend large protest gatherings and didn't always wear a mask. From the Daily Wire:

Bottoms later joined the Black Lives Matter marches – wearing a mask – but surrounded by thousands of people, many of whom were not wearing a mask. A photo of the mayor attending a protest – without wearing a mask – from a few weeks ago has been circulating social media.

Despite aggressive condemnation of people who protested against lockdown restrictions in April and May, mainstream media outlets have almost unanimously reported that there is no indication that social justice protests have led to an uptick in cases. At the same time, however, they have shifted from reporting on deaths to reporting on the overall increase in cases nationwide.

USA Today reported that the recent spike in COVID-19 cases has been driven by people under 40, which happens to match up with a large portion of the demographic of social justice protesters. The article refers to so-called "COVID-19 parties" in Alabama, the likelihood of younger people to go out and socialize, and younger adults returning to work, but it doesn't specifically refer to the massive protests as a potential cause.