FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WOWO): Could recent protests lead to a spike in coronavirus cases? Allen County Health Commissioner Dr. Deborah McMahan certainly thinks so.

She tells our Partners in News at ABC 21 to expect a spike in local cases in about 10 days, due to a large number of protesters – such as those in downtown Fort Wayne over the past week – not social distancing or wearing masks.

She adds that since most of the protesters are younger people, there’s a greater risk of them being infected, but not showing any symptoms, thus passing the respiratory illness on to others without knowing it.

Allen County’s COVID-19 cases were close to 1700 as of this morning, with more than 70 deaths.