UNITED STATES—There has been a pressure mounting on states Governors who have implemented the “stay at home” order. From California to Washington D.C. protests have been staged in front of city halls.
This past weekend, Maryland held protests state wide. Citizens and politicians rallied in hopes that the Governor, Larry Hogan would ease up on the restrictive orders. One Maryland politician Rep. Andy Harris, compared the states lockdown to “Communist China.” His stance being that he should attend the “church of my choice” and “Worship the way I choose.”
While talking to CNN, Governor Hogan responded “Sadly we had far more people die yesterday in Maryland than we had protesters,” he continued by saying “Look we’re very anxious to get our state reopened in a safe way as soon as we possibly can, because people are getting frustrated, and they’ve been inside their homes,” but his response to the protests was “Unfortunately the pressure is to do it in a not safe way and that’s something we’re very concerned about.”
A large majorities of Americans are following the stay at home order, but states like California, Maryland, Michigan, and Washington D.C. have had very loud movements among its citizens who accuse the Governors of abusing their power. Michigan’s Governor Gretchen Whitmer stated while speaking with CNN “We know people are not all happy about having to take this stay-at-home posture, and you know what? I’m not either,” she continued “The fact of the matter, is we have to listen to epidemiologists and our public health experts.”
California’s Governor Gavin Newsom is under fire after deciding to close all beaches after Orange County beaches were swarmed with people this past week. In a lawsuit filed by the cities, they argued that even if Newsom is acting under emergency powers, he has no right to usurp “the independent jurisdiction of local municipalities, who answer directly to their residents.” The lawsuit claims that Orange County “has an exceedingly low number of persons afflicted by COVID-19.”
According to ABC7, as of today, May 4, Governor Newsom has announced a second stage of reopening in California starting as early as Friday May 8. This will include curbside pick up at sporting good stores, toy stores, clothing stores, and even book stores.
Newsom commented in his daily press conference “This is a very positive sign and it has happened for only one reason: the data says it can happen,” Newsom continued. “But we recognize as we begin to modify … possible community spread will occur. If that is the case, and we don’t have the capacity to control that spread, to track that spread, to isolate individuals that may have been in contact with COVID-19, we will have to make modifications anew.”
