2 — Thursday, April 16, 2020
News
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
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“Why we want to do this is
not because we want to go back
to
walking
down
the
street
and sniffing air like nothing’s
happening,” Hoover said. “We
want our rights to not be taken
advantage of — we don’t have to
ask the governor permission to
do anything that the Constitution
grants us.”
Many of the signs held by
protesters in cars and around
the Capitol expressed frustration
with the order’s effect on small
businesses. One sign read, “Small
business is essential business.”
Another read, “The government
has no business telling you what
is or is not essential to you.”
Mark Schriemer, an alum of
the University of Michigan, lives
and works in Ann Arbor as a
remodeling contractor. He said
his business has been devastated
by the restrictions, as he had to lay
off all of his employees and resort
to solo side jobs to keep himself
financially
afloat.
Schriemer
worried that Whitmer’s response
was too broad geographically
when the majority of COVID-19
cases are tracked to Southeast
Michigan.
“You’re
locking
down
the
state for the sake of a problem
that’s going on primarily in two
counties,” Schriemer said. “She
just hangs on her talking points
and tells us all to just trust her
that she’s saving all of our lives.
And I’m not seeing the proof
of that here. I’m seeing a lot of
people going out of business and
they’re never gonna reopen.”
Public
health
experts
have
expressed support for Whitmer’s
orders, saying the extension is
necessary to fight the spread of
the virus. In a statement, Vikas
Parekh, associate chief clinical
officer for Michigan Medicine’s
adult hospitals and professor of
internal medicine, said reducing
contact for an extended period
of time is essential to drive the
number of cases in the state down.
“The
data
confirm
that
everyone in Michigan can help
us flatten the curve, and it is
crucial,”
Parekh
said.
“In
a
scenario where the virus spreads
throughout the local population
infecting the majority of the
population,
our
model
shows
tremendous differences between
less and more aggressive social
distancing.”
Dan Garrison of Jackson said
he attended the protest because
he has seen his small business
officiating weddings and his part-
time job officiating high school
sports dry up over the last month,
and many of his friends have lost
work as landscapers and lawn
care providers.
“I agree with parts of it —
social distancing — absolutely I
do,” Garrison said. “I agree with
the whole concern with health
and welfare, people’s well-being,
I do. But I just think that she
should have made exceptions on
particular jobs that people need
to do.”
Whitmer
addressed
protester
frustrations
in
a
press
conference
Wednesday
afternoon, acknowledging their
economic fear as real while also
encouraging
small
business
owners to start thinking of plans
to safely reopen.
“How
does
that
particular
business protect their employees
and their customers?” Whitmer
said. “Now is the time to throw
our energy into planning, because
we know that COVID-19 is not
going to be gone on April 1 or
May 1 or July, June, or August 1.
This is a virus that will continue
to spread unless we all do our
part. That’s why, as we think
about re-engaging sectors of our
economy, it’s going to be really
critical that we have confidence
that we can do that safely.”
According
to
a
Michigan
Nurses
Association
statement
from Tina Ray, Ambulance traffic
to
Sparrow
Hospital,
located
on Michigan Avenue a mile east
of the Capitol, was impeded by
the protest. Ray expressed her
concerns about having protests
during the COVID-19 pandemic,
stating
it
prevents
medical
professionals from doing their
jobs.
“While everyone has a right
to
gather
and
express
their
opinions, today’s protest sends
exactly the opposite message
that
nurses
and
healthcare
professionals are trying to get
across: we are begging people,
please stay home,” Ray wrote.
“The protest was irresponsible,
impeding ambulances and traffic
to
Sparrow
Hospital,
where
frontline healthcare workers are
risking their lives taking care of
patients suffering from COVID-
19. Lives are being saved because
of the stay-home order. We ask
everyone to protect themselves,
their families and us by doing
what’s best for the greater good.”
Greg Moore, an Okemos native,
took his mother to Sparrow
Hospital on Wednesday for stage-
four cancer treatment. Moore
was upset by the fact that he had
to weave through traffic and take
side streets to get to the hospital
and said the protest crossed a
line.
“I don’t think it really falls
under peaceful protest, I don’t
think it falls under a protest that
doesn’t cause a disturbance,”
Moore said. “So I think it should
have been disbanded … there are
probably other ways of protesting
this that don’t involve blocking
hospital entrances.”
Protesters on the Capitol lawn
and surrounding sidewalks did
not follow the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention social
distancing guidelines of staying
at least six feet from other people,
avoiding gathering in groups and
staying out of crowded places.
Tiffany Brown, press secretary
for Whitmer, emphasized before
the event that the governor will
always defend free speech, but
asked that “those who choose to
protest these orders to do so in
a manner that doesn’t put their
health or the health of our first
responders at risk.”
At
the
press
conference,
Whitmer addressed the possible
health
consequences
of
the
protest. She said that in addition
to causing the hospital difficulties
and bus service reroutes, the
gathering could lead to the spread
of COVID-19.
“We
know
that
this
demonstration is going to come
at a cost to people’s health,”
Whitmer said.
BECCA MAHON/Daily
University healthcare workers practice social distancing while protesting the healthcare industry outside of the University hospital Wednesday
evening.
PROTEST
From Page 1
See PROTEST, Page 3