Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said Wednesday that public protests are likely causing the number of citywide coronaviruscases to spike, just two days after claiming there wasn’t “any conclusive evidence” showing a connection between the two.

He claimed he’d consulted with Dr. Barbara Ferrer, LA County’s director of public health, and determined the protests were in fact contributing to the spread of the virus.

“I talked again with Dr. Ferrer about that this morning. She does think some of the spread did come from our protests,”

He added, “We do believe there is a connection, we don’t believe that everybody has been doing this safely and wherever you can, please stay at home.”  He added, “We do believe there is a connection, we don’t believe that everybody has been doing this safely and wherever you can, please stay at home.”