In yesterday’s White House press briefing, when asked about large-scale looting of stores in places such as Los Angeles, San Jose, San Francisco and Lakewood, Press Secretary Jen Psaki said she thinks the root cause of the crimes is the COVID-19 pandemic:
Q And does the President still think that crime is up because of the pandemic?
MS. PSAKI: I think many people have conveyed that, and also one of the reasons that crime — one of the root reasons crime we’ve — root causes of crime in communities is guns and gun violence. And we’ve seen that statistically around the country.
Q But, to your point, so when a huge group of criminals organizes themselves and they want to go loot a store — a CVS, a Nordstrom, a Home Depot — until the shelves are clean, do you think that’s because of the pandemic?
MS. PSAKI: I think a root cause in a lot of communities is the pandemic, yes.
Apparently, under Psaki’s theory, these looters believe the virus can be repelled by large amounts of cash and jewelry.