Canada is also putting police reforms and de-arming (of the police) higher on the agenda again amid ongoing protests.
https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2020/06/07/covid-19-and-police-violence-fuel-a-push-to-declare-anti-black-racism-a-public-health-crisis.html
Also calls to start collecting race data for covid19 deaths (which hasn't been kept track of here)
For some, the protests erupting in reaction to the deaths of George Floyd and Regis Korchinski-Paquet have been a distraction from the COVID-19 pandemic. But Black health leaders say these two crises are connected by the same deep-rooted ill: anti-Black racism.
Researchers, advocates and racialized communities have long recognized racism as being harmful to human health. But there are now calls from multiple groups to declare anti-Black racism a public health crisis — an effort they say has taken on fresh urgency in the face of COVID and police violence, both of which disproportionately impact Black communities.
“Systemic anti-Black racism is a public health crisis in Canada,” said Dr. Onye Nnorom, a public health specialist with the University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health, and president of the Black Physicians’ Association of Ontario. “We are at that point. We are dying and no one is paying attention, whether it’s due to police violence or health-care neglect.”
For some it's indeed a distraction from covid19, 200k demonstrators showed up in Washington
https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2020/06/06/washington-braces-for-largest-protests-in-the-city-yet-over-the-killing-of-george-floyd.html
If there is strength in numbers, then Saturday’s crowds on the streets of Washington were by a fair measure largest and most powerful yet. An estimated 200,000 people, outraged by George Floyd’s death 12 days ago at the hands of Minneapolis police, gathered in the newly-renamed Black Lives Matter Plaza near the White House, before the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, and on the grounds Capitol Hill. They marched through residential and commercial neighbourhoods all throughout the city, in a movement against police brutality and in favour of racial justice, chanting “Black Lives Matter.”
That's got to have an effect, perhaps not on reforms, but on covid19 deaths.
In a contrast to the scenes of armed troops liberally using pepper spray and charging crowds alongside broken windows and burning buildings that defined the media image of protests on the same site less than a week ago, the mood on the street near the White House in the hot sun of the afternoon was almost like that of a concert festival. A giant “Black Lives Matter” mural had been painted in yellow on the road, and on it a man played a guitar and sang into a microphone. People at tables handed out bottled water and snacks, and local restaurants distributed free sandwiches and half-smoked sausage dogs. A P.A. system a block north pumped hip-hop near porta-potties and food trucks. People snapped selfies in the street near unarmed soldiers in combat fatigues.
What pandemic?
These may be the symptoms of a movement going mainstream — and the question on some minds is whether this softer, family-friendly form of demonstration would ramp up or relieve the momentum toward addressing racial injustice.
Elijah Devine spoke loudly to remind everyone they were protesting a man’s death — and too many other deaths. “Someone literally put the foot on a black brother’s neck, and we are right here walking around cool, singing Kumbaya?” he said. “Just remember what you’re here for. Remember the purpose. George Floyd got killed. Sandra Bland got killed, right? Say their names! People are just walking down the street, like this is a party. Like this is a festival. This is not a festival OK? This is talking about life,”
