People gathered at Huntington Beach on Friday to protest the closure of all Orange County beaches to stop the spread of the virus and the main target of the protestors’ frustration was directed toward Governor Gavin Newsom who initially gave the order for beaches to close.
With coronavirus cases increasing at a rapid speed across the United States, the government has been encouraging social distancing and the utilization of masks and gloves and this also includes the closure of non-essential businesses and the closure of public spaces such as the beach.
The protest brought hundreds of people carrying the American flag chanting, “USA, USA, USA” and “No more Newsom.”
Many of the signs also stated, “Freedom is Essential,” “Make America Work Again,” and “All Jobs Are Essential.”
Protester David Jaggli said, “They make everyone wear the mask so everyone thinks there is something wrong, but there’s nothing wrong. By wearing the mask, they are able to control everyone.”
Jaggli also said, “I should be president.”
Many protestors brought their families including their children to help in the protest.
California Representative Ted Lieu stated in a tweet directed toward the Huntington Beach protestors, “There were over 30,000 new US cases reported yesterday & over 34,000 today. #COVID_19 is a highly contagious virus. These folks at Huntington Beach undoubtedly spread the virus even more.”
Although most people came to protest, others simply spectated the protest as they were curious to see what was happening.
Torrie Mayberry, a spectator at the protest said, “I’m from Colorado and I thought California was going to practice more social distancing, but not at all… I do believe they should open things up within reason and as long as we practice social distancing.”
Mayberry also stated, “There’s Republicans and there’s people who just want things to open up and they’re both protesting against [California’s] governor, but the person who gave the order was President Trump who they’re voting for… So they’re idiots or they don’t know what’s going on.”
According to the CDC the amount of current cases as of May 2 is 1,092,815 cases with 64,283 of those cases resulting in death.
California is one of the states with a higher number of cases, being 50,442 cases, and 2.073 resulting in death.
Many police officers regulated the protest by surrounding the area by horse mount, car, and motorcycles.
However, this is not the only protest popping up across the states opposing the stay-at-home order.
Protests like this one have popped up in other cities like Palm Beach, Florida, Lansing, Michigan, Olympia, Washington and more.
Many of the states conducting protests are also states with a higher amount of cases.
Washington has 14,637 reported cases, Michigan has 42,356 reported cases, and Florida has 34,728 reported cases.
Since the protest, May 1 has been recorded as the second most deadly day since the coronavirus started, shown by data compiled by The Mercury News.
May 1 recorded 98 deaths second only to April 22 where 118 people died and 5 of those deaths recorded on Friday came from Orange County.
According to a study done in China by University of Texas students, the virus is carried by asymptomatic transmission.
They found that because of this 1 in 10 infections are from people who have the virus but don’t feel sick.
Therefore, such extreme precautions are being taken with the COVID-19 coronavirus compared to others.