This isn’t the first protest regarding the pandemic-related business closures and stay at home order: About 75 protestors gathered on Thursday, April 9 according to an article by WOSU.
Virtually none of today’s protestors can be seen wearing cloth face masks at the gathering — although there’s definitely at least one person in a Guy Fawkes mask — and it appears the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommended six-foot social distancing guideline to prevent the spread of the virus was largely ignored.
Ohio Public Radio’s Karen Kasler posted about the protestors on her Twitter. You can see their signs proclaiming things like, “Open Ohio: We want our rights back” and “My inherent rights don’t end where your fear begins.”
Notable anti-vaccine advocate Scott Shoemaker attended the protestor rally, interviewing several participants about where they came from and why.
One protestor, a Cleveland-area nurse named Jessica who was recently let go from her outpatient job because she says there weren’t enough people coming in, explains that she came down to show her kids how important their freedoms are and explains “we’re not afraid of any viruses.”
Another interviewee from Findlay named Brittany traveled to the protest with her 19-month old baby, noting that she doesn’t believe the shutdown is within the scope of Gov. DeWine’s power.
Protestors can be heard in the background chanting “O-H-I-O Acton’s got to go” and “Open Ohio now.” Many also appear to believe that the Ohio Department of Health and Acton are falsifying their case numbers.
According to Shoemaker, he believes there were about 200-300 people at the rally.
As of today, the Ohio Department of Health is reporting 6,975 total cases of COVID-19 under their new method, which includes the CDC’s expanded case definition of probable infections. In addition, more than 2,000 people have been hospitalized, 613 have been admitted to the ICU and 274 have died.
Despite protestors’ concerns, the Ohio Department of Health and Dr. Acton constantly reiterate the importance of social distancing and other measures taken by the state to stop the spread of the coronavirus.
This article appears in Apr 8-14, 2020.
What are those kooks gonna do, drag me out of my house and force me to eat three meals a day at the Cracker Barrel? (Well, actually, judging from their appearance, that’s exactly what they want me to do.)
Hi!
Liberal checking in. Not interested in a dead economy, but I do think profits are less important than lives.
Try asking people what they think instead of stating it sometime. It turns out most of us have a solid middle-ground if we listen to each other instead of just saying what “the other side thinks”.
LOL at “COMMUNIST MASK IS SLIPPING” blaming liberals when the state has been shut down by a Republican governor and we have a Republican president claiming he has authority over everyone LOLOLOLOL
If they started telling people how many have recovered from the virus it might inspire more trust.
Jessica Klanac is the name of the nurse featured in that interview. She currently holds a nursing license, but she was lying about being let go of her nursing job. She has not worked as a nurse for at least a year and instead runs healthy lifestyles facebook group. She supports alternative medicine, including anti-vaxx and she homeschools because she does not agree with science and the medical community.
It might, Robo.
Or, it might also encourage people to take more risky behavior – which in turn further jeopardizes people who have weakened immune systems or otherwise are depending on “herd behavior” to keep them safe.
YOU might recover. But you might also be an asymptomatic carrier who coughs or sneezes in a grocery isle, the next person who touches the items you sneezed on then goes to visit an elderly family member, and now we have a problem.
I’m all for having all the facts – but I don’t trust people to draw smart conclusions from those facts. “Oh x% of people recover! I’m going shopping!” may not endanger you – but it may endanger people 2-3 steps removed from you.
Those are the people we’re trying to protect.
Just one liberal of many gets it. It isn’t just you that’s being protected by the lockdown, it’s everyone.
Of course it’s the far right wingers that are chomping at the bit to get back into things when nothing has really changed, because as much as they lie and protest to the contrary, the only thing they’ve ever given a shit about is money, money, money. We’ve been fortunate enough to have a Governor who gets it and many, many people in this state who understand that the safest thing we can do until there’s some kind of progress is exactly what we’ve been doing. It’s the only reason we don’t look like Michigan with more than 4x the number of cases we have.
And, of course the scare mongering idiots are still here with their forced vaccine, digital ID horseshit. Notice that they aren’t talking about 5G anymore though because with 184 countries reporting Covid19 cases and only 5 with actual working 5G towers, its become painfully obvious just how wrong they’ve been on that particular front. They’ll be proven wrong, once again, with their dumbass fear mongering about the oh so evil National Guard and forced vaccines and blah blah fucking blah, so do yourself a favor and don’t listen to any of the garbage that they’ve been spewing since day one.
Be smart, be safe, and we’ll make it through this thing. People’s lives are more important than these idiots bank accounts.
perhaps people should become educated before regurgitating hateful and ignorant rhetoric. Your individual rights are yours in a vacuum. when they start impacting others negatively and in ways that can cause harm or even death to someone other than yourself, then they are no longer your right. we are stronger together than apart. SCIENCE NOT SILENCE!
hi! a liberal here. no i do not want a dead economy. i have a tesla and beach condo to pay for. thanks!
Ugh Americans will only care when it affects them personally. I am a nurse working through all this and I’m positive that these people would change their thinking if their child/parent/spouse was dying alone in the ICU on a ventilator unable to communicate with family. Don’t call me crying while I am risking my life taking care of your selfish loved one who got infected because they thought it was their right to. It sounds bad but if any of these people get covid they shouldn’t let them go to the hospital for treatment they don’t deserve it. And yes of course many many more people have recovered from this but so many have died, what if of those hundred people who died in your area 4 were in your family? I guess Ohio wants to be the next New York, 700 deaths a day I couldn’t even imagine handing all those bodies and having to call the families to inform them.
As a registered nurse with advanced education, I am aghast at many of these posts. I specialize in psychiatric nursing. This is a public health issue and the responses are not physical, but mental health. This is not some strange government wants your guns or DNA. My family and friends have reduced your chance of getting sick while you have been trying to get yourself on camera. Frankly, I’d love to see the stats on the protestors at the Statehouse and their family and friends. You’d definitely see a spike in COVID in them.
So you can see from the comments what we’re dealing with, anti vaxx morons who don’t believe in proven concepts like herd immunity. Newsflash, dickheads, it’s not something that was invented by Bill fucking Nye, you just dismiss it because you’re either too dumb or too lazy to do any actual reading or research. As for the 5G asshole, are you even fucking serious right now, you’re too dumb to understand that you just made my fucking point for me. IE there’s 5G in Cleveland and right now, because of the good sense of a lot of people much smarter than you are, we have some of the lowest infection rates in the nation, you dummy. Just because idiots are burning down telecomm equipment doesn’t make them or you right. The stats don’t lie, 184 countries with the virus, 5 with actual working 5G towers. Tell me how those numbers work you fucking moron. Think there’s a lot of 5G towers in Iran? How about the Philippines? And yet, magically, they still have plenty of cases of Covid19.
Just shut the fuck up already with the anti vaxx 5G conspiracy horseshit. The only cowards here are you, scared of a world you’re too fucking lazy to even attempt to understand and too selfish to realize that your stupid ass fuck it attitude is endangering people’s lives. Catch the fucking virus already and die, you’re probably old as fuck anyway and high risk to boot so just catch it and crawl in a hole and die but don’t go near people you care about unless you want their deaths on your conscience too, dipshits.
Lock all these “freedom fighters” up and let them infect each other until they die. They’re potential killers. You’re not afraid of no virus, Jessica? The rest of us are. Nice way to raise your kids. You should be jailed and your kids should be taken away. You are a menace and a nutcase.,
Funny place, Ohio. Anti-vaxxers, home schoolers, Bible thumpers and other assorted wingnuts and crackpots assemble on state property, and they get smirked at. Had there been three hundred lefties and progressives on those steps, they’d have been clubbed, gassed, bayoneted, and maybe dispersed by National Guard bullets.
It’s happened before.
Put these people in a cage. A small one.
Your “inherent rights’ end where my face mask begins.
Go home, get back in your house, sit down on the couch, and shut the fuck up.
These must be the 3 nurses left working after all the hospital layoffs.
Perhaps our tunes might be different if the numbers were greater, or there weren’t hospitals, or the MSM wasn’t siding with China over America, or the Democrats weren’t trying to change rules to “vote by mail” to rig the 2020 Presidential Election, or the answer wasn’t a mandatory vaccination in 12 months.
Maybe then we might get on board, but they had to get greedy.
I’m sorry if you can’t see it, but it’s obvious that you believe you still matter in the eyes of these criminal politicans and elites.
Vaxxers are obviously stupid. There’s not even a vaccine yet (allegedly) and the vaxheads are already fighting with people about not getting it. They have no idea what’s going to be in it or who is making it, they’re just like inject me and everyone else. They’re not even open to other options. So weird.
Only thing sadder than a Nurse that couldn’t land a Dr is a Nurse that thinks she’s smarter than a Dr. In 3rd place are Male Nurses.
Call it what it really is:
Ongoing _Russian Active Measures_ outside of the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus.
This crisis, and the state guidelines, are a perfect excuse to cleanse this state of the wingnuts and haters and nutjobs. Lock them into cages so they can kill each other with the virus, and put the churchmice in with them, so they can pray each other to death.
Make Ohio blue again so we can keep our proud record alive. Ohio has picked the winning candidate in every election but two since the end of the 1800s. You can’t vote red when your dead. Or sick. Or in jail.
I’m a male nurse so fuck off nurse ratchet ass!
The next rally will probably be taken over by right-wing assholes like the one in Michigan was. Trump flags, Confederate flags, flak jackets, black outfts, sidearms, and rifles…just like they had in Lansing.
If we had a Democratic governor, they would label the lockdown a “power-grab” and do the same thing here. I hope they do, and I hope they are dealt with. Virus or lead poisoning…what’s the difference? Well, lead posioning is quicker.
This open-up-I wanna-work movement is just more right-wing Trumpster rally-type bullshit that is easily seen through. You’d rather work and maybe die? Fine, but you could also make others die while you’re doing it.
Sit down, STFU, wait for your unemployment checks, open up another brewski, and go back to watching that sick tiger crap and WWE wrestling on your theater-sized TVs, you moronic redneck assholes. The rest of us…the smart ones…the sane ones…want to stay alive.
Leftists do not desire to stay alive. They desire control. They don’t care about their or anyone else’s health, they just like telling people what to do and having them listen. When they don’t listen or disagree, the leftist has a tantrum like the long winded poster above.
I’m a leftist. I want to live. I am not a control freak. That is for the fascists like you.
I don’t want to tell anyone what to do or how to live…i just want them to have enough smarts and common sense to do the right thing.
And if the fascists want to impose their agenda on the rest of us by force, I will resist them and try to destroy as many of them as possible.
You’re not even a closet fascist…you’re merely a repetitive, disturbed little pissant, who is obsessed with this site, and who just wants to type the rest of us to death.
Do these people understand that this isn’t an isolated attack on your individual freedoms and that similar shutdowns are happening WORLDWIDE?? This isn’t a partisan power siege, this is an actual attempt at keeping infection rates down and keeping US citizens alive. The reason Ohio has lower infection numbers is BECAUSE this shutdown is working compared to the infection rates in other states. Imagine if people were forming protests during the Spanish Flu or the plague, you might not be afraid of the virus, but that doesn’t make you immune. This is not about you, this is bigger than you, and I hope the people in support of these protester don’t come to realize that the hard way.
Vey simple charge them for terrorism and child abuse for the Mother of the baby and I can get you free legal for anyone who gets sick because of these idiots. Also, ban them from any health care services when they get sick. I laughed so loud, they want data? Lol what fucking rock are they living under? Oh wait they want it to say what they want it to say right? Bawhahahahhahaha! Either way they would not be able to read it anyway. The stupid is strong here. Anyone who dies from them transmitting should be charged with murder as well.
Good die idiots! More smart people left. But fair warning any people you kill because of your Low IQ stupidity will be paid back to all of you times 100. And tho mother of the kid, take that kid away now she is too stupid and guilty of abuse to have a life to be in charge of. Scary!
It turns out that the pandemic is an intelligence test.
It will be hard for them to chant with a respirator hose shoved down their throats!
Hopefully they all get together to discuss the next protest, real close to one another. Like they think just because some business is open people are going to blindly flock there,,,,,
Certainly looks like they just left the local Memsa Club meeting,,real smart looking group
Hmmm. Sounds like some of these people are candidates for the annual Darwin award…..
Oh, Ohio. Please don’t become the next Florida!
My rights don’t end where your stupidity begins. That can be said for a lot of these Cult 45 extremes. They never seem to care about trampling on other’s rights. Ironically they don’t care when they’re dictator dude decides the constitution doesn’t matter if it’s in his way. If they think opening up the economy is going to fix the problem, well they’ll just find scapegoats. Talk about whining & hysteria. They can’t get a Dictator rally so they opt for this. They can take their flags, Bibles & guns & shove them sideways
Okay, so let me respectfully offer my position. I own a small “Non Essential” business (at least according to the governor). I am closed by lockdown order, and have had NO income for nearly a month. The unemployment website is jammed and way behind, and the SBA emergency funds I have tried to apply for are now exhausted. I couldn’t even get my application considered because bank websites were jammed. However, the bills keep coming, with no end in sight!
So, if I defy lockdown orders, do business anyway, and happen to catch the virus, there is about a 3% to 4% chance I will die. However, if I can’t feed myself, pay for necessary doctor appointments, and lose my home because I have no money, there is a 100% chance I will die! I think I know which percentage works best for me. Keep in mind I do not consider this lightly. I am 64 years old, and have chronic medical conditions that put me in the high risk category. It is NOT about greed or being money hungry for me! It IS, however, about basic survival, and saving a business that I have built over a 40 year period!
So, I ask you folks that are opposed to an early re-opening, which “lesser of two evils” should I choose? If I lose everything, can I come live at YOUR house? Will YOU pay for my food and doctor visits? Also, to the Governor and bureaucrats that issue and enforce these Draconian orders: Have YOU had to give up YOUR pay and cushy government benefits as a result of your orders? I think NOT! You people in government are “passing the buck”, WITHOUT “passing the BUCKS” to help us! I am NOT an idiot or “stupid redneck”. I AM an intelligent, critically thinking individual who is considering all options for basic survival, and forced into a very difficult choice.
Near-best possible scenario, these people become infected and die.
BEST possible scenario, they become infected, rabid, and cleared for firing squad.
In any case, the inbred and ignorant population of Ohio is overdue for pruning.
@SPRNG1979 – after reading the article and all the comments, I’d first and foremost like to say that I sympathize with your plight. But, if you look at the vector of this disease, shutdowns are necessary to protect people. You mentioned a chance of 3% mortality, that is only true if lockdowns are in place, that number rises when lockdowns are lifted. Regardless, I challenge you to pick 3 of 100 friends/family of yours to sacrifice to this virus. Also, even if you do survive the virus, I’ve read reports that you can be left with compromised lung capacity (like a 30 year old with 60 year old lungs). Having said all that, I think you’re protesting the wrong thing. You deserve to have a security network in place to assist you over this emergency and it’s criminal that you don’t. THAT’S what you all need to be protesting for. As for the folks who are protesting because “they need a haircut” or other incredibly selfish reasons, that’s just a big old f*** you to the healthcare workers who are putting their lives on the line to protect and serve, and cure them. It’s infuriating to hear about these doctors and nurses etc. who haven’t been able to see their loved ones (in order to protect them) and these gatherings will only prolong the length of the shutdowns and their struggle to keep these self absorbed jerks alive. Maybe universal healthcare and social programs to support in times of crisis is something to think about. I hope you can all stay safe and stay healthy, and that you survive this intact – health wise and monetarily.
I am embarrassed to be an Ohioan when stuff like this happens.
@SPRNG1979 — This is going to sound harsh, but I believe it to be the truth…
You have owned and operated a business for 40 years. Therefore, you know that you need 6-12 months of operating capital in the bank at all times (emergency fund). This allows you to pay all expenses for 6-12 months with zero revenue. You are not a startup, so you certainly have this. So, how is it you are out of money after only a month? You should have plenty of cash to sustain you until the SBA gets re-funded or the lockdown is lifted.
Many poorly run small business will close for good. It sucks for all involved, but it is part of capitalism. The well run business survive and the bad ones don’t.
f you get COVID-19, you either recover or die, right? There is no middle ground — you either get over it or it kills you. With this in mind, the death rate in USA is 37%. This is simple math: 71,769 have recovered and 42,186 have died. Everyone else is waiting to recover or die.
These knuckle draggers don’t realize how incredibly lucky we are to have sensible leadership like DeWine and Acton, the kind of leadership which many of us frankly don’t deserve (amazing to say that of a Republican but here we are). I’m sure the vast majority of people in other states, including much more affluent states, are very jealous if they’re paying enough attention.
Ohio doesn’t have a major international airport hub like Chicago and Detroit have. That is the main reason we are better off than some of the richer states. Ohio is more isolated from international travel and commerce than other Midwestern states..
Also, we jumped on this crisis much more quickly than they did. People elsewhere were still partying in bars and restaurants when ours were closed.
Underneath it all, DeWine will always be a bigoted and sexist GOP jerk, but he rose to the occasion and we are so much better off because of it.
This mess should supersede party politics, but try telling the moron in Washington that. Hell, I might actually even vote for DeWine, if I’m still alive in 2022.
Since the two Presidential candidates are already decided, I think Ill write in DeWines name on my primary ballot!
Update: 75 protesters have tested positive after attending a rally in Wisconsin recently. I hope the same thing happens in Ohio. And I hope they all die slowly and miserably, because hundreds, if not thousands, of their fellow Americans are going to die because of their idiocy. Your freedom to be an asshole ends where my face begins.