Staff photo / Allie Vugrincic Protesters with the “We Matter” rally gather outside the Trumbull County Courthouse in Warren on Monday evening.

Cities across America have joined together to speak out against police brutality and racism after the murder of George Floyd, who died May 25 while being detained by police in Minneapolis. While it’s not the first time citizens have taken to the streets to protest, it’s the first time it’s happened during a global pandemic.

After footage of Floyd’s death went viral, protests popped up in both the smallest and biggest towns in America — including Youngstown a week ago and Warren last Monday. The Warren “We Matter” event drew more than 1,000 people, organizers estimated.

Those protests came after other groups began speaking out against stay-at-home orders across the country.

The Valley marches and events largely were peaceful; other cities across the nation experienced violence, looting, arrests — and much close contact.

In the wake of all the gatherings, the threat of spreading COVID-19 looms over protesters as they amass in large groups. In some cities, leaders advised protesters to be mindful that a pandemic still is happening.

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, for example, told those who protested to be tested for COVID-19, while at a news conference, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo reminded everyone that those gathering could potentially be infecting hundreds of people.

Azja Butler, a college student and protest organizer in Lawrence, Kan., said she and other protesters did not want to contribute to the spread of the coronavirus, and safety was the main concern when more than 1,000 people gathered to march.

“We wanted to keep everyone safe in in their interactions with other people, whether that be police or counter-protesters, but also from COVID-19 because we still are in a pandemic,” Butler said. “We really didn’t want to contribute to that, but we also wanted to let people know that obviously COVID-19 isn’t stopping these murders by police. We wanted to demonstrate that COVID-19 also can’t prevent or stop us from being a unit or being a community.”

Butler said the protest in Lawrence had several safety stations along the marching route with volunteers and volunteer nurses. She added that volunteers purchased masks and collected donations so everyone attending could have a mask.

“I would say almost over 90 percent of the participants outside were wearing masks or some sort of facial coverings to sort of keeping everyone around them safe, which was really nice,” she said. “We also recognize that there are people in the community that are either immunocompromised or people that they live with or care about are immunocompromised.”

In Wheeling, W.Va., Ron Scott, the cultural diversity and community outreach director for the YWCA, said he believes the pandemic changed how the protest looked and felt.

“There were several people who told me that (COVID-19) was one of the main reasons they couldn’t come,” Scott said. “Most folks I saw there had masks, and a lot of them were worried about hand sanitizer. There was a guy walking around with hand sanitizer giving people a couple of squirts if they needed it. There were people with plastic bags, handing out masks, just to make sure that people were still staying safe during the whole thing.”

Scott said it’s up to the organizers of the protest to never lose sight of keeping the crowds safe and to remind them of social distancing. Scott suggested reminding people in between speakers not to forget to wear masks and stick to CDC guidelines.

“We shouldn’t lose sight of people’s safety when it comes to health,” he said. “It’s just something that demands immediate attention, regardless of what’s going on pandemic-wise because it’s almost like if a loved one was hurt.”

Nikki Johnson, a protest organizer in Washington, Pa., said most people arrived at her local protest with facial coverings but as protestors marched, many took them off.

“I’m not saying that COVID is not serious right now and that it’s not taking lives,” she said, “but there are innocent black men and women being murdered, not just by police but citizens for no reason.”

Martinez said she encourages others to turn their efforts to help protests in larger cities by donating supplies or to community bail funds.

Scott, meanwhile, noted that he believes speaking out and protesting must happen in order to keep everyone from being desensitized to horrible things.

“These protests have to happen,” she concluded, “or we will begin to normalize the deaths by police brutality.”