We aren’t supposed to talk about the protests as being a reason for the spikes.
Well, one reason is that it didn’t really play out that way. If BLM protests were to blame for the spikes, you would see major spikes everywhere there were protests, including NY and NJ. But, that isn’t the case.

Our hospitalization numbers in NY and NJ have actually gone DOWN. You can say the numbers are fudged and part of a conspiracy. But, it doesn't correlate with our states' reopenings.
George Floyd was murdered on May 25. The protests around the country started about May 30, after the Minneapolis DA said he has already looked at some evidence and didn't think some of the cops would be charged.
Parts of upstate NY state were already in Phases 1 & 2. NYC STILL had not reopened. Having been the COVID epicenter of the U.S. and then the world, because COVID spreads so easily here, due to the density of the population, the Gov. & Mayor have been extremely cautious about reopening. They would NEVER do anything to risk us becoming the epicenter once again. We were on track to open June 8. Yet protests broke out in ALL major cities throughout NY state, as well as in smaller cities & some villages. All 5 boroughs of NYC had protests in the thousands.
NYC stayed on track and we reopened to Phase 1 as the hospitalization numbers stayed the same or went down. Even though it was still a bit early to see if protestors would get sick. MORE protests happened E.V.E.R.Y. D.A.Y. STILL happening.
The Mayor warned us that Phase 2 might be delayed if we see spiking from the protests. But, the Gov. announced we'd go into Phase 2 on June 22 as planned. He said it was already 3 weeks of protests and we would have seen spiking. Our hospitalizations and rate of transmission were down to 1%. (Rate of transmission needs to go to 2.3-ish% to start spiking.)
Last Thursday, NY state hit an all time LOW. For the first time in a looong 100 days, we dipped BELOW 1000 COVID hospitalizations throughout the whole state of 19.1 million people! (The rate of transmission is still at only about 1.1%. And only 17 COVID deaths in the state.) Meanwhile, we are STILL having protests every day. Now they are "Occupying City Hall" and camping out all night.
Today is the 50th Anniversary of the Gay Pride March in NYC. The parade was
officially cancelled. But, I'm sure LGBTQ people will still march. BLM already had invited them to march along with them a couple weeks ago.
NYC is on track to go to Phase 3 on July 6.
Meanwhile NJ had it's own protests throughout the state. They had a low 36 hospitalizations on Friday and about 6 COVID deaths. (When COVID first hit NYC, about 4 days later, NJ got it's first case. CT had one at about Day 6. Our states are that intertwined as many people work in one state & live in another.) CT is also in Phases 1-3. Not sure what their numbers are. But, it's on par with NY & NJ.
NY state went from being the world epicenter to one of the lowest rate of transmissions states in the U.S. now. NO WAY would the Gov. jeopardize that by fudging numbers and reopening, (especially during the protests,) as we have been seeing what a disaster that is
worldwide, when countries reopen too soon.
The 3 Governors created a joint tri-state travel advisory last week: that people entering from 8 COVID high infection rate states must quarantine for 14 days. Infection rate criteria is: 10 new positive cases per 100,000 people on a 7-day rolling average, or at least 10% of the total population is COVID-19 positive on a 7-Day rolling average.
Current states as of today: AL, AR, AZ, FL, NC, SC, UT, WA, TX
IF we get spiking, it may be due to people sneaking in, not quarantining and infecting us.

So the Gov is encouraging NYers to report quarantine violators. And in NY, if a person violates the quarantine, they may be subject to a judicial order and mandatory quarantine.
They will have to pay the costs of quarantine.
And fines:
$2000 for first violation.
$5000 for second violation.
Up to $10,000 if they cause harm.