Protests over stay-home orders pop up – and US health workers worry about virus risk

After multiple governors announced they would extend their states’ stay-at-home orders during the coronavirus pandemic, widespread uprisings are breaking out across the U.S.

Healthcare professionals “are begging people, please stay home,” the Michigan Nurses Association wrote Wednesday in a statement on its Facebook page.

Thousands of people gathered at Michigan’s Capitol this week after Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer extended and expanded the state’s stay-at-home order, NBC reported. Protest organizers originally had a plan called “Operation Gridlock,” where protesters sat in their cars to block traffic for miles, according to CNN.

But some people did not heed the warnings from organizers to stay in their cars, and many crowded around the Capitol building chanting, “Lock her up,” and “We will not comply,” according to The Washington Post. Whitmer said at a press conference that the protest “endangered people’s lives,” the Post reported.

“We know that when people gather that way without masks … that’s how COVID-19 spreads,” Whitmer said. “And so the sad irony here is that the protest was that they don’t like being in this stay-at-home order, and they may have just created a need to lengthen it, which is something we’re trying to avoid at all costs,” the Post reported.

The Michigan Nurses Association wrote in a statement that “the protest was irresponsible, impeding ambulances and traffic to Sparrow Hospital, where frontline healthcare workers are risking their lives taking care of patients suffering from COVID-19.”

“We ask everyone to protect themselves, their families and us by doing what’s best for the greater good,” the association said.

Protests over stay-at-home orders are popping up around the country because many people are angry about the declining economy as the Labor Department reported over 5 million new unemployment claims Thursday, USA Today reported. Minnesota, Utah, North Carolina, Ohio and Kentucky also saw demonstrations take place against the restrictions, according to CNN.

“We do have some folks up here today, saying we should reopen Kentucky immediately, right now,” Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said, according to CNN. “Folks, that would kill people. It would absolutely kill people.”

Demonstrations are also planned in Pennsylvania, Virginia, Texas, Oregon, Idaho and Washington state, according to NBC. The protests came on the heels of President Donald Trump’s guidelines for loosening restrictions imposed by governors to encourage social distancing, USA Today reported.

“We have God-given rights that are infringed upon right now, as we speak, every day that this state remains closed,” Ashley Smith, an organizer in North Carolina, told CNN.

At least one protester at the demonstration in Raleigh was charged with violating Gov. Roy Cooper’s stay-at-home order, McClatchy reported.

“I have a right to peacefully assemble,” she said as officers arrested her, according to McClatchy. “God bless America.”

This story was originally published April 16, 2020 at 8:10 PM with the headline "Protests over stay-home orders pop up – and US health workers worry about virus risk."