Q: What would you tell your kids or grandkids who wanted to join a protest march or go to a political rally?

Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases: My daughters feel very strongly about social injustice, but would not likely want to do that. They are very careful with their health. They stay away from crowds.

Elizabeth Connick, chief of the infectious diseases division and professor of medicine and immunobiology at the University of Arizona : I’d be so proud of him. I would tell him to wear a mask. He’s young and doesn’t have any health conditions. Nothing is risk free. If that’s what he wanted to do, I’d ask him to wear a mask.

Paul A. Volberding, professor of medicine and emeritus professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of California at San Francisco: We are a pretty political family, and believe in these protests. But I haven’t been to a rally. I’m old enough that it’s probably more serious for me. They are young enough that it’s probably less serious for them. But I would tell them to stay to the side and wear masks all the time, and that being in the mosh pit of a crowd is a pretty bad idea.

Linda Bell, South Carolina’s state epidemiologist : I would advise them that the risk for exposure is high, and that they should wear a mask at all times, and make every attempt to distance themselves from people without masks.

Barry Bloom, Jacobson research professor and former dean of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health: : The answer would be yes, but wear a mask and try to stay [six to eight] feet away from everybody. I wouldn’t do it because I am at high risk.

David Satcher  – former US Surgeon General: I was quite active in the civil rights movement when I was a student at Morehouse. I went to jail at least five times. What bothers me about today’s protests is that they aren’t as organized as we were. You don’t know who you are marching with. You don’t want to find out when you get there that someone is going to throw a rock or start a fire.