Leader Of An Anti-Lockdown Protest In America Reportedly Tests Positive For Coronavirus
Audrey Whitlock was campaigning to reopen the state of North Carolina and relax coronavirus restrictions including social distancing measures and stay-at-home orders imposed by the governor. She has reportedly tested positive for COVID-19 and forced to stay at home.
Anti-lockdown and 'Reopen America' protests have been going on in the USA with hundreds across various states participating in rallies.
A woman who was campaigning to reopen the state of North Carolina and relax coronavirus restrictions including social distancing measures and stay-at-home orders imposed by the governor has reportedly tested positive for COVID-19 and ¡®forced¡¯ to stay at home.
Facebook/Audrey Whitlock
Audrey Whitlock is one of the members of the ReOpen NC Facebook group, which has about 70,000 online members. They reportedly organise weekly in-person rallies demanding that the state reopen. Whitlock apparently even described herself as an ¡®asymptomatic Covid-19 patient¡¯ in a post that has since been deleted. Even though she has the potential of infecting other people, she said that abiding by the governor's orders meant her rights were being violated.
¡°She never left her house during her quarantine, so she has not been at any rally or any of the functions that we've done. I'm not responsible for other people's choices. I'm for personal liberty,¡± Ashley Smith, a fellow organiser reportedly told a local television station.
She further said, ¡°Everyone has their own decisions to make. If they want to come, that's up to them. I'm going to be there. I'm not afraid of the virus. I'm more afraid of losing my constitutional rights and losing my livelihood than I am of the virus.¡±
Facebook/ReopenNC
Last week, people rallied in downtown Raleigh saying that the order violated their constitutional rights.
¡®We are mostly business owners and employees that are losing our income and denied our right to provide for our families. We have come together to demand action from their elected officials,' they said on their Facebook page.
In a Facebook post, Whitlock wrote, 'I will take a stand every day until we are a free people again, to sound the alarm because someone has to do the right thing in the face of wrong.'
In her opinion, the COVID-19 restrictions violate her First Amendment rights as well as her 5th and 14th Amendment rights.
Getty Images
'The reality is that modern society has not been able to eradicate contagious viruses. A typical public health quarantine would occur in a medical facility. I have been told not to participate in public or private accommodations as requested by the government, and therefore denied my 1st amendment right of freedom of religion,' she wrote.
She also wrote that 'It has been insinuated by others that if I go out, I could be arrested for denying a quarantine order.'
According to reports, these anti-lockdown protests could be the breeding ground for coronavirus in America which is already struggling with the overwhelming number of cases it is witnessing daily.
