The United States is inching closer to its one-millionth known COVID-19 case, with residents throughout the country still on mandated stay-at-home orders. These orders still have little information on when they will be fully lifted, which is causing Americans to become frustrated with their situation.
Anti-quarantine protesting is beginning to surge throughout the US, mainly in states that have not seen as many cases as other more high-risk states such as New York.
Michigan led the first large scale, organized protest in the US, that according to Guardian correspondent, Adam Gabbatt, was created by the states Conservative Coalition. The protest was directly focused on urging the governor to end stay-at-home orders. This protest created a gridlock, as protesters used their cars and in-person assembly to show their distaste in social distancing guidelines.
This led to streets being blocked to where emergency vehicles and personnel could not get through. This protest kept hospital staff from reaching work and doing their heroic duties of helping keep people stay safe and alive during this global pandemic.
A full list of the states participating in protests was provided by the BBC and include Michigan, Ohio, North Carolina, Minnesota, Utah, Virginia, Kentucky, Wisconsin, Oregon, Maryland, Idaho, Texas, Arizona, Colorado, Montana, Washington, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania. The extent of each protest is varying in its intensity, however, they are all looking to incite the reopening of the state and the larger country.
FreedomWorks, an organization behind the push for protests, is backing groups looking to stand for their rights to assemble. This organization has been funded by conservatives in the past, making their stand a political one.
According to FreedomWorks website, they created an online function to help aid the planning process of these protests. As the pandemic and orders to social distance continue, so will the spread of these protests.
Counter protests are being held by healthcare workers who witness first hand the detrimental power of COVID-19. People dressed in scrubs have been seen standing in front of the processions of cars to form a human-made pathway for other healthcare workers and vehicles to make it to the hospital.
Currently, President Trump is working with state governors to reopen states that have low case numbers, which could lead to the ease of these large protests. There will be an order in which states must follow in carrying out the reopening of each state. Trump is putting it into the hands of each state to decide their reopening timeline based on the set of basic rules to be met in order to reopen society.
However, the number of cases continues to climb as the US is approaching one million cases, which is larger than any other country in the world.
While the states that are protesting do not have as many cases as others, it does not mean that that still could not happen. The fear in reopening the US is that COVID-19 would surge back to the rates it had in the beginning.
The medical crisis was labeled a pandemic because of its prevalence throughout the entire world and because it caused rampant infection easily through human contact. If the US decides to reopen officially to the exact way it used to be, the population would face cases continuing.
This is the first large scale global pandemic that most of the world’s population has faced since the 1900s. Most people are faced with having to learn how to handle this pandemic as they go. For graduating senior Domenic Fauria, he holds some concern as to where society and the economy will be for his graduating class. He acknowledged that the population is facing a new era with a lot of change ahead.
As for the protests, Fauria believes “that people are facing a lot of emotions at the moment and are misunderstanding what the country needs right now to heal.”
