Demonstrators stand outside the Virginia State Capitol April 16 to protest continuing Gov. Ralph Northam’s Stay at Home order. | Zach Gibson/Getty Images
Signs of unrest are emerging across the country as Americans grow tired of social distancing measures that have prevented innumerable deaths but disrupted their everyday lives and cost millions their jobs.
Demonstrators have held protests in a half-dozen states this week, with more to come. A suspect broke into a small business in Washington, D.C., where passersby looted more than $2,000 worth of wine. And several major cities have seen spikes in calls to suicide hotlines as public health officials warn of the toll the coronavirus pandemic can take on mental health.
Virginia became the latest state to see a protest when three groups led a demonstration Thursday against Gov. Ralph Northam’s two-week extension of an executive order banning groups larger than 10 people, closing nonessential businesses and limiting restaurants to takeout and delivery.
Groups of roughly 100 protesters gathered in Ohio on Monday, North Carolina on Tuesday and Kentucky on Wednesday to object to their governors’ stay-at-home orders and school and business closures. An even larger group rallied in Utah on Wednesday, the same day thousands of drivers backed up traffic in Michigan for more than a mile in several directions to protest Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s lockdown policies, and additional protests are planned in Texas and Oregon.
Citizens complain that governors are overreaching, though state and local leaders across the country have said they’re following the advice of public health professionals and pledged to let data and science guide their decision-making.
“Government mandating sick people to stay home is called quarantine. However, the government mandating healthy citizens to stay home, forcing businesses and churches to close is called tyranny,” Reopen Virginia, one of the groups that organized Thursday’s protest, said in a statement.
More than 640,000 Americans have tested positive for Covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, and at least 31,000 have died. More than 3 million Americans have been tested overall.
Meanwhile, the Labor Department reported Thursday that 5.2 million Americans filed jobless claims last week, bringing the total of unemployment claims over the past month to more than 22 million.
Tanner Ainge, chairman of the Utah County Commission, told POLITICO that Americans are suffering on both the health and economic fronts. He also dismissed the emphasis on whether a state has issued a formal stay-at-home order.
“For me,” he said, “it’s less important about what you’re calling it than what’s actually happening.”
Utah is among the few states that have no such order, though Gov. Gary Herbert has issued a “Stay Home, Stay Safe” directive. Residents there protested Utah’s business closures on Wednesday.
“Nobody wants to really be the bad guy, but in this situation it seems like anything you do might seem like you’re the bad guy,” said Amy Fowler, a member of the Salt Lake City Council.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has warned that stress during an outbreak of an infectious disease could worsen mental health. The CDC offers recommendations for coping with stress.
Cities such as Los Angeles and Philadelphia have seen spikes in calls to suicide hotlines. A mental health clinic in L.A. reported fielding more than 1,800 coronavirus calls in March, compared with only 20 in February.
California Sen. Dianne Feinstein tweeted a number to a 24-hour suicide prevention hotline Thursday and a link to a website.
“The coronavirus pandemic is a challenge for all of us, but we’ll make it through this,” she wrote. “And if you need help, it’s there for you.”
A health official in Philadelphia said calls to two suicide hotlines there increased about 10 percent over the past few weeks.
“Our violence rates actually haven’t gone down, so we’re still trying to manage through what has been a pretty violent 2020,” Brian Abernathy, Philadelphia’s managing director, told POLITICO last week. “I think we’re still trying to figure out how to manage two public health crises — or three if you add in the opioid epidemic — at the same time. We’re still trying to manage all three simultaneously to save as many lives as we can.”
In Jacksonville, Florida, Sheriff Mike Williams said the city has seen a 20 percent increase in domestic violence. The sheriff’s office responded to 31 domestic violence calls in March but about 200 from March 15 to Tuesday.
“I’m not surprised that the numbers went up because you’re talking about abusers having greater access to victims and their children, and we’re talking about victims and children who are not having as much access to go out and get help because they’re isolated and oftentimes trapped in the home with the abuser,” Gail Patin, CEO of Hubbard House, told a local news station.
Coronavirus fatigue bubbles over as lockdowns enter second month
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