Americans protest against Covid-19 lockdown

Photo|Courtesy: Residents protest lockdown orders in Encinitas, Calif

Americans have now taken to the streets urgitating for an end to the lockdown. They are  protesting against the lockdown orders aimed at limiting the spread of Covid-19 blocking roads and honking car horns.

According to the protesters the stay at home measures put by the government are an overreaction and that keeping these restrictions in place too long will cause long-term damage to local economies.

Some have come out bearing firearms as gun rights groups have been among the organizers, citing infringements on civil liberties.

“The cure cannot be worse than the disease itself.” One protestor says.

Although not everyone is in support of the removal of the restrictions, some groups have called for quarantining just the vulnerable as more testing is done to get people back to work or redefining "essential" businesses.

Protests have been experienced in a number of states like Michigan, Ohio, North Carolina, Minnesota, Utah, Texas, Washington, and New Hampshire among others.

Virginia and Oregon State have witnessed few dozen protestors while Michigan and Washington State have attracted thousands of protestors.

On Sunday, Washington State saw one of the largest demonstrations, with some 2,500 protesters gathering at the capital in Olympia. The state was the early epicenter of the Covid-19 outbreak in the US.

Last week, a new guidance dubbed Opening up America again was unveiled by  President Donald Trump and his Covid-19 taskforce.

The guidance recommends a three phase of slowly easing restrictions on businesses and social life, with each phase lasting at least two weeks. The recommendations also include maintaining some social distancing, access to testing and contact tracing.

On Sunday, the president called out on Michigan and Virginia States.
"Some governors have gone too far", he said.

Further he added,

 "Some of the things that happened are maybe not so appropriate, in the end, it's not going to matter because we're starting to open up our states, and I think they're going to open up very well."

The US now has 792,938 cases, 42,518 deaths and 72,389 recovered cases, with numbers still rising though signs have emerged that infection rates are slowing in some states.

A Pew Research Center survey last week found 66 per cent of Americans are concerned that restrictions will be lifted too quickly, as opposed to 32 per cent who are worried that they will not be lifted soon enough. In addition, the survey found most of the country - regardless of party affiliation - believes the worst of the pandemic is yet to come.