Shutdowns blamed for outbreak of protests and riots

Pent-up frustrations from job losses and months of isolation during the coronavirus lockdowns played a role in the riots across the country, according to psychologists and pandemic researchers.

"I do think the pandemic aggravated things," said historian John Berry, who has written books focused on past pandemics.

Tension built up during the lockdowns due to the massive joblessness — especially for those making less than $40,000 a year, African Americans disproportionately getting sick from the virus, and people being shut in the house for months, Berry said.

"One can't understate the role of pandemic in the protests," said Alec MacGillis, former Baltimore Sun reporter, on Twitter. "For weeks, people have been told to stay home. They've had no social contact with large groups, which humans crave. Now, they can."

In Minnesota, where George Floyd was killed, social distancing measures were put in place for almost two full months. Bars, restaurants, hair salons, and movie theaters were not allowed to open until the beginning of June and still have restrictions on how many they are allowed inside.

Unemployment skyrocketed, and morale fell during the shutdowns. A Gallup poll at the end of April found that only 46.4% of American adults would say their lives are going well enough to be considered "thriving." That number hasn't been that low since the depths of the financial crisis in 2008.

"No doubt in my mind that the pandemic has eroded people's capacity to tolerate additional frustration and anxiety," Dr. Kenneth Eisold, a practicing psychoanalyst, told the Washington Examiner. "I also suspect that the riots reflect an unconscious protest against the lockdown."

The coronavirus has "highlighted racial/economic disparities in our country," said Dr. Joe Pierre, health science clinical professor at UCLA. He said it "seems likely" that the frustration seen in the riots is "cumulative."

Those accumulated grievances were felt acutely during the shutdowns and the "feeling of pent-up frustration and restlessness ... came to a boiling point and was given a release valve with the death of George Floyd," Pierre said.

Not everyone blames the pandemic restrictions for the riots, though. Andy Biggs, the Arizona congressman and chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus who's been a high-profile critic of state shutdowns, said that the protests instead started out as people exercising their constitutional right to protest but were "quickly hijacked by probably three or four different groups."

Biggs told the Washington Examiner that violence at the riots have been caused by antifa, looters, gangs of looters, and people "who just want to get in a mob and start acting like a mob."

Biggs said he does believe that lockdowns affected the country's mental health drastically, saying there has been an increase in suicides, domestic violence cases, child abuse, and alcohol abuse.

"It is interesting that few people have been talking about COVID-19 this week," Pierre said. He is also shocked that no one is talking about the "likely spike [in] cases" that will happen from the riots.

The "frustration and threat" from the coronavirus has affected the country deeply and has played a part in the riots, said Michele Gelfand, a professor of psychology at the University of Maryland.

"During times of crises, nations can come together and unite, or they can be torn apart," she told the Washington Examiner.