WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st April, 2020) Hundreds of protesters have showed up in front of the state capital building in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on Monday to urge Governor Tom Wolf to end his stay-at-home orders and reopen the economy on May 1.
This is following a trend of protests that erupted last week in the US states of Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky, Utah, Wyoming, Texas, Arizona, Tennessee, Colorado and Washington.
Many residents are alarmed that the state governments are infringing on their constitutionally protected rights, however, most are concerned about the damage the businesses are taking during the pandemic.
Protesters in Harrisburg held signs that said "Standing for Our Rights and Our Freedom," "Freedom is Essential," "Give me Liberty or Give me Death," "The Media is theVvirus," and "Re-open Pennsylvania."
Many of the protesters also held "Trump 2020" flags and banners.
A large vehicle parked outside the capital building was covered with Trump campaign signs.
Later in the afternoon in Harrisburg, a group of about eight protesters armed with long rifles arrived at the capital building in a military transport vehicle. Last week, about a dozen protesters in Michigan arrived at the capital building in Lansing armed with long rifles as well.
Another demonstration on Monday took place in front of the governor's residence in Augusta, Maine as at least a hundred protesters urged Governor Janet Mills to reopen the state's economy.
Maine protesters held signs that said "my constitutional rights are essential," "back to work now," and "open Maine."
About a hundred people in Kansas City, Missouri participated in a demonstration Monday afternoon in opposition to mitigation measures. Some chanted "open up" and another protester held a sign that said, "let me try to save my small business."
President Donald Trump has been advocating for states to reopen their economies although some medical experts have advised that it should be done once testing capabilities across the country have expanded.
On Thursday, Trump unveiled Federal guidelines inviting state authorities to embark on reopening their economies and restoring daily routines in three phases. On Friday, Trump made a call-to-action after he stated that the states of Minnesota, Michigan and Virginia must be liberated from strict restrictions imposed by their Democratic governors.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, a medical expert on the White House Coronavirus Task Force, has warned that opening the US economy too soon could backfire and that the country does not have the testing capacity to take such action yet.
Fauci has been widely criticized for initially saying that the novel coronavirus is not as harmful and then using models that greatly overestimated the number of infected and dead due to COVID-19 in the United States leading to the authorities undertaking significant restrictive measures.
The United States has more than 762,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases and more than 40,700 deaths caused by the disease as of Monday afternoon, according to the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center.
