Three Weeks After George Floyd Protests, No Spike In COVID-19 In Chicago, But It's Still Too Soon To Celebrate

CHICAGO (CBS) -- It's been three weeks since the first major protests in Chicago -- in reaction to the death of George Floyd.

During those demonstrations, many wore masks, but others did not. And social distancing was top of mind, but sometimes difficult. For these reasons, health officials were concerned about a potential spike in COVID-19 cases.

However, at least so far, that hasn't happened. Being outside, wearing masks and trying to remain as far apart as possible seemed to help. Over 21 days, which included dozens of protests with thousands people, there has been a deep drop in Chicago COVID-19 cases.

"We've started to see a decline in the number of cases, which is great, said Jennifer Layden, chief medical officer of the Chicago Department of Public Health. "But we are still in a relatively high-incident state."

Walk as we did through the Juneteenth crowd today and you saw Chicagoans on defense: masks, signs, and awareness. But the virus never stops playing offense.

"It takes several days to almost weeks before someone exposed and is identified as a new infection," said Layden

Three weeks of good data since the protests, isn't the whole Chicago COVID picture.

'At the same time we saw protests, we were coming out of shelter in place," Layden said.

That makes two big swings in human behavior. Experts say don't think of this report card as A+ work but more of an incomplete.

"I would say it's too early to say for sure," said Layden.