Protest held in downtown Pittsburgh over coronavirus restrictions
PITTSBURGH – Despite advisories against large gatherings and close contact with others, protesters thronged both sides of Grant Street in downtown Pittsburgh on Monday to oppose policies to prevent the spread of COVID-19 that include the closure of Pennsylvania businesses deemed non-essential.
The few hundred demonstrators spent more than an hour chanting and waving at passing vehicles that honked in apparent commiseration in front of the City-County Building during the midday event.
Gideon Bradshaw/Observer-Reporter
Attendees said they wanted precautions against the spread of COVID-19 lifted. Many said it should be up to individuals and businesses to make their own choices in that regard.
The rally, organized by right-wing activists, attracted people who ranged from men in fatigues with infantry rifles in tactical slings to Trump supporters to small-business owners.
Glenn Cessna, of Erie, fit into the latter two categories. He owns a contracting business, and said he wants to be free to go back to work. He said he had to furlough two full-time employees of his company and stop employing subcontractors who normally help him. He said his company could operate safely without the state mandate.
“We think we can work safely with the proper protection, masks, all that,” he said. “We should go back to work.”
He said he was going to another rally in Erie later in the afternoon. Like most people who crowded the sidewalk, Cessna wasn’t wearing a mask.
Health officials and other experts encourage protective facial coverings to prevent the spread of the highly contagious and sometimes fatal respiratory ailment. The state Department of Health went as far as to issue an order that people who go to essential businesses that are still open wear masks inside, effective on Sunday night.
Nichole Jeffrey – who lives in Cheswick, a suburb north of Pittsburgh – hung back from the sidewalk and stayed near her parked mini-van. “FREE PA from the BIG BAD WOLF,” read one of the signs in the windshield – a reference to Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat. Jeffrey is a Republican.
She said she was staying out of the crowd and follows most safety guidelines. She said the protest was the first outing for her two sons, 5 and 6, since the statewide restrictions started last month. The boys stayed in the vehicle. She said she only goes to public places to buy groceries, but draws a line at wearing a mask.
“Personally, I think some numbers have been fudged,” she said of statistics on the pandemic, which officially has killed more than 1,200 people in Pennsylvania alone.
Libby Savena, of Wexford, is the single mother of an 11-year-old daughter. She expressed frustration that larger businesses like Walmart have remained open while she’s had to close her salon, where she’s self-employed.
Since the restrictions kicked in, unemployment has skyrocketed in Pennsylvania, becoming so widespread that on Sunday the state began allowing small business owners and independent contractors to file claims for unemployment compensation.
They normally are not eligible.
Savena, and her friend, Margo Marsh of Bellevue, which is closer to the city, stood side by side, faces bare, during the protest.
Gideon Bradshaw/Observer-Reporter
Savena said she tried several times to use the state website to apply, but it wouldn’t let her complete the application.
She said at most three customers at a time are inside her business, which she wants to reopen.
“Allow us our right to choose to be able to work safely,” she said.