Protesters swarm state capitols with support of leaders
Politicians back rallies to reopen economies as the stay-at-home orders remain in place
With hundreds arrayed before him, standing shoulder to shoulder, the retired Army colonel vented his fury from the steps of Pennsylvania’s capitol building.
The governor’s orders to shut down businesses in the face of a pandemic, he railed to a crowd of protesters this week, amounted to “tyranny.” He had battled overseas to defend freedom. Now, with the governor telling healthy people like him to stay home — “What the heck is going on here? I’m not sick!” — the fight had come to America’s shores.
“It’s time to rise up!” he exhorted as the crowd roared.
Then Doug Mastriano walked inside the soaring, green-domed home of the Pennsylvania legislature and began his day job: as a Republican state senator.
With a backlash against coronavirus restrictions generating demonstrations at state capitol buildings nationwide, organizers have framed the protests as organic and grass-roots.
But some of the biggest cheerleaders for an end to the mandatory social distancing that experts say is necessary to bend the coronavirus curve are lawmakers working from within. Taking cues from President Donald Trump, they are using their platforms to encourage citizens to “liberate” their states from restrictions that have caused widespread economic misery.
The push among legislators is adding to the pressure on governors who have resisted Trump’s wish to see states open up again as of May 1. While some governors have eagerly announced an easing of restrictions, most have not, citing guidance from medical experts that a premature opening could cost many lives.
But governors who stay the course with closures are increasingly facing demands from state lawmakers that they pivot faster.
In Ohio, business groups are aggressively lobbying the state legislature to force Republican Gov. Mike DeWine to open up to save the economy. Wisconsin’s Republican-dominated legislature Tues
day went so far as to sue health officials advising Democratic Gov. Tony Evers to block an extension of his stay-at-home order. And in Pennsylvania, the Republican majority passed a bill to make it far easier for businesses to resume operations.
The Democratic governor, Tom Wolf, vetoed that legislation last week, citing the opinion of medical experts who insist the state is not yet ready to safely relax. But Republicans have vowed to try again — and to peel off enough Democratic support to override any veto.
With unemployment and frustration both rising fast, that point may come, said Christopher Borick, director of the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion.
“When it comes really depends on the nature of the virus, and on the governor’s ability to make his case that his actions are called for,” Borick said.
The showdown in Pennsylvania-reflects the clash of visions playing out across the country as state governments weigh how and when to allow their populations to resume some semblance of normal life. As in most states, it’s largely been absent in Pennsylvania, where schools, businesses deemed nonessential and gatherings of any size have all been shut down or banned.
Although backing for stay-athome measures has been relatively robust — in Pennsylvania, and nationwide — there is a stark political divide, with Republicans significantly less likely to be supportive.
A Kaiser Family Foundation poll released Thursday found that 80 percent of respondents said strict shelter-in-place measures are worth it to protect people and limit the spread of the coronavirus, including 61 percent of Republicans asked. A Yahoo News/YouGov national poll released Sunday found that 60 percent of respondents opposed protesters calling to immediately end stay-at-home and social distancing measures vs. 22 percent who supported them.
Public health experts said the Pennsylvania rally was not necessarily confidence-inspiring. Rachel Levine, the state’s health secretary, noted that while citizens have a right to protest, the demonstration brought people into close contact with one another for a prolonged period. Many were not wearing masks or gloves.
“That,” she said, “is how COVID-19 spreads.”
She urged anyone who attended the rally and feels sick in the coming days to contact their doctor.
The rally’s primary message — that the state is ready to loosen stay-at-home requirements — was also not backed up by science, said Alison Buttenheim, who teaches health policy at the University of Pennsylvania.
Before that can happen, she said, the state needs a sustained drop in new coronavirus cases and a dramatic increase in testing capacity. Until then, she said, “the idea that we can ease up is exactly the wrong answer.”
Wolf on Tuesday said areas of the state that have seen low case numbers could see an easing of restrictions by May 8. But he has refused to bow to demands to move more rapidly, or to open up the entire state at once.
Democrats in the state legislature, said Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa, overwhelmingly support that approach.
“That’s a plan we need to follow,” said Costa, who represents the Pittsburgh area.
“I understand the frustration. People want to get back to work,” he said. But anyone who wants to reopen immediately “is not listening to our health experts and officials who tell us that we’re not there yet. The data has to drive this.”
Mastriano, the former Army colonel and current state senator, was less concerned. Although he spent hours talking with protesters — and filming his interactions for his Facebook page — he said in an interview that he’s not worried by the prospect of contracting COVID-19.
“I refuse to live in fear and bondage,” he said.
Having told the crowd it was time to fight against “tyranny” and for freedom, he said he had heard that there were plans to “do something else” on May 1 if the governor refused to end restrictions by then.
“What are you going to do?” he asked. “What are you going to do?”
The answer from the crowd came in a shouted reply: “Open it up!”