Although such monuments had been removed before 2020, it was typically at a much slower rate, according to the SPLC. Only 16, for example, were removed in 2019, while the number for 2020 is 59 so far.

That figure includes 38 monuments removed or toppled, five relocated and 16 schools, parks, or other sites renamed. It does not include Mississippi voting to remove the Confederate battle flag from its state flag, The Hill reported.

The number also does not include various other monuments that do not honor Confederates but have been torn down or removed due to other associations with racism.

Several statues of Christopher Columbus have been toppled, defaced, or removed by local governments. Philadelphia, meanwhile, has removed its statue of former Mayor Frank Rizzo (D), who ran for re-election under the slogan “Vote White.” Washington, DC’s NFL team has announced it will change its name after years of vowing it would remain in place.

Similar changes have occurred overseas; Belgium has removed a bust of King Leopold II, believed to have killed up to 15 million people during his private ownership of the Congo for rubber production. In Bristol, England, protesters pushed a statue of slave trader Edward Colston into the harbor.

Proponents of removing Confederate monuments in particular often cite that, in most cases, they were erected either during the Civil Rights era or after the end of Reconstruction, NPR notes. More than 700 such monuments remain on public land.

Several states whose statues in the US Capitol honor Confederate figures have also begun removing them. Georgia leaders, for example, have endorsed replacing Confederate vice president Alexander Stephens with the late Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), while a Virginia state commission has voted to remove a statue of Robert E. Lee.

The US president did not blame the anti-racism demonstrations directly but suggested that they “presumably” led Americans to lower their guard against the pandemic.

“There are likely a number of causes for the spike in infections cases,” Trump told reporters at his second briefing on the virus in two days following a three-month impasse. “Cases started to rise among young Americans shortly after demonstrations, which you know very well about, which presumably triggered a broader relaxation of mitigation efforts nationwide”, The Guardian reported.

Public health experts say there is little evidence that the protests spread COVID-19 in New York, Chicago, Minneapolis, Washington or other cities. They took place outdoors, where the virus spreads less easily, and most participants wore face masks, which Trump has conceded is an effective preventive measure.

Dhaval Dave, the lead author of a study at Bentley University in Waltham, Massachusetts, told the Associated Press that in many cities, the protests actually seemed to lead to a net increase in physical distancing, as more people who did not protest decided to stay off the streets.

Trump, who has sought to conflate the protests with looting and violence, did not say they were the sole reason for the virus resurgence. Speaking at the White House, he went on: “A substantial increase in travel also was a cause, increased gathering on holidays such as Memorial Day as well as young people closely congregating at bars, and probably other places. Maybe beaches.

“Four or five different listed places – we have 12 that are listed on the guide – likely also contributed.”

But he then made a surprise segue to a favorite talking point, claiming that his wall on the US-Mexico border had helped prevent further infection.

“We’re also sharing a 2,000-mile border with Mexico, as we know very well, and cases are surging in Mexico, unfortunately,” Trump said. “I was with the (Mexican) president and it’s a big problem for Mexico, but cases are surging very sharply and all across the rest of the western hemisphere.”

He added: “Two hundred and fifty miles of newly constructed wall along the southern border has had a great positive impact on people coming in, and we have record low numbers of people coming in illegally that’s helped greatly. It was really meant for a different purpose but it worked out very well for what we’re doing right now and for the pandemic.”

Critics have pointed out that the uptick in coronavirus cases, now killing more than 1,000 people a day, coincided with states reopening bars, restaurants and other businesses at Trump’s urging and against guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Trump appeared solo again at Wednesday’s briefing, without public health experts, and claimed the pandemic response “is all going to work out – it is working out”.

Afterwards Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, said: “Instead of confronting this crisis head-on, Donald Trump has waved the white flag of defeat, with top advisers saying that Trump’s ‘not really working this anymore’ and that he ‘doesn’t want to be distracted by it’.

“Trump’s failure to lead is so complete that even top Republicans are speaking up, with a key aide to Texas governor Greg Abbott describing Trump as ‘bored’ of dealing with COVID-19.”

Marc Quinn created the likeness of Jen Reid, a protester photographed standing on the plinth after demonstrators pulled down the statue of Edward Colston and dumped it in Bristol’s harbor on June 7.

The statue, titled “A Surge of Power (Jen Reid)” was erected before dawn on Wednesday without approval from city officials, AP reported.

Colston was a 17th-century trader who made a fortune transporting enslaved Africans across the Atlantic to the Americas. His money funded schools and charities in Bristol, 120 miles (195 kilometers) southwest of London.

The toppling of his statue is part of a worldwide reckoning with racism and slavery sparked by the death of a Black American man, George Floyd, at the hands of police in Minneapolis, in May.

Quinn, one of Britain’s best-known sculptors, said Reid had “created the sculpture when she stood on the plinth and raised her arm in the air. Now we’re crystallizing it.”

Reid told The Guardian newspaper that the new black protester statue was “incredible” and would help “continue the conversation.”

City authorities fished the Colston statue out of the harbor and say it will be placed in a museum, along with placards from the Black Lives Matter demonstration.