Birx calls Michigan coronavirus protesters without masks ‘devastatingly worrisome’
A White House official called protesters not wearing masks and not observing social distancing rules at a Michigan rally “devastatingly worrisome,” Fox News reported.
“It’s devastatingly worrisome to me personally because if they go home and infect their grandmother or their grandfather who has a comorbid condition, and they have a serious or an unfortunate outcome, they will feel guilty for the rest of our lives,” said Dr. Deborah Birx on Fox News Sunday.
Protesters, some armed, stormed the Michigan Capitol in Lansing on Thursday to demand that lockdown orders issued by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer be lifted, NBC News reported.
“We need to protect each other at the same time we’re voicing our discontent,” said Birx, who coordinates a White House task force overseeing the national response to the coronavirus pandemic, Fox News reported.
Alson on Sunday, Whitmer said on CNN that the protests showed “some of the worst racism and awful parts of our history in this country.”
“The Confederate flags and nooses, the swastikas, the, you know, behavior that you’ve seen in all of the clips, is not representative of who we are in Michigan,” Whitmer said on “State of the Union.”
“We’re in a global pandemic,” she said, CNN reported. “”Whether you agree with me or not, I’m working to protect your life if you live in the state of Michigan.”
Protests against stay-home orders and business closures have taken place in several states across the U.S. in recent weeks. In California, 32 people were arrested Friday at a rally outside the capitol, The Sacramento Bee reported.
More than 3.4 million cases of the COVID-19 virus have been confirmed worldwide with more than 244,000 deaths as of May 3, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States has more than 1.1 million confirmed cases with more than 66,000 deaths.
The World Health Organization declared coronavirus a global pandemic. In the United States, President Donald Trump has declared a national emergency.
This story was originally published May 3, 2020 at 1:16 PM with the headline "Birx calls Michigan coronavirus protesters without masks ‘devastatingly worrisome’."