Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and one of the leading experts in the White House’s response to the coronavirus, warned demonstrations happening across the country protesting the quarantine orders will prolong the shutdown period.
There have been protests in at least 20 states by residents who have taken to the streets to protest their governor’s stay-at-home orders. These people are arguing that the country should start to reopen and recover from the virus. More than 21 million people have lost their jobs in the last four weeks.
Fauci was asked about the dangers of the protests ABC’s Good Morning America on Monday. and he said, “If you jump the gun and go into a situation where you have a big spike, you’re gonna set yourself back,” he continued. “So as painful as it is to go by the careful guidelines of gradually phasing into a reopening, it’s going to backfire. That’s the problem.”
President Trump has taken a very different tone when addressing the lockdown protests as he did last Friday when he urged that people of Michigan, Minnesota, and Virginia “liberate” themselves and reopen their economies in social media posts.
Trump also said. “These are people expressing their views,” he explained. “I see where they are, and I see the way they’re working. They seem to be very responsible people to me, but they’ve been treated a little bit rough.”
“If ye love wealth over liberty, tranquility of servitude over animating freedom, go home in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down lick hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you. May posterity forget that ye were our countrymen. Samuel Adams