As citizens begin to grow weary of the measures taken to reduce the spread of COVID-19, many protest groups have sprung up around the nation, urging governors to get the country back in business. While polling suggests the vast majority support continuing lockdown measures and worry that ending them too soon will backfire, the protests have garnered the most headlines.
However, one protest group is grabbing headlines for a reason they probably would rather not.
Audrey Whitlock, one of the administrators and organizers of the ReOpen NC Facebook group, recently revealed that she had tested positive for COVID-19.
As the Raleigh News & Observer reported, Whitlock claims she was an asymptomatic carrier of the disease and in a post on the private Facebook group suggested that undergoing a two-week quarantine violated her civil rights.
“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.
Whitlock also argued that people with diseases other than COVID-19 could still go to work if they were essential workers.
“If I were an essential employee, I would be denied access to my job by my employer and the government, though compensated, those with other communicable diseases are afforded the right to work,” she wrote. “It has been insinuated by others that if I go out, I could be arrested for denying a quarantine order. However, the Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits discrimination by employers, places of public accommodation, and state and local government entities. . Where do we draw the line?”
Whitlock explained that she underwent COVID-19 testing after a trip to the West Coast left her and her family seriously ill in February.
“We all had severe coughs and I was having trouble breathing at night, waking up gasping for air,” she said.
So, she had an antibody test done at a private lab and although her test came back negative for antibodies, she did test positive for COVID-19. She wrote that the county health authorities failed to contact her about her positive test to conduct any tracing of her contacts.
Whitlock added that she had not attended either of the ReOpen NC rallies during her self quarantine, but that she plans to attend future rallies now that her two weeks are over.
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Legal experts suggested that Whitlock’s arguments don’t hold much merit during a pandemic.
UNC law professor William Marshall told WNCN that “The community has a right to defend itself against deathly disease. So that’s what’s on the side of the state. On the side of the individual, of course, it’s a major intrusion on a person’s right.”
“When you have a potential of infecting others, you’re not just talking about putting yourself in danger. You’re talking about putting other people in danger, and that’s when I think the state has a legitimate interest to act to prevent the spread of that disease.”
The CDC states that breaking a state or federal quarantine order is a criminal offense.
North Carolina’s Governor, Roy Cooper, has extended the state’s stay-at-home orders until May 8.
A third ReOpen NC rally is scheduled to take place in Raleigh on April 28. At the previous rally, about 100 people showed up to an intersection, with some trying to maintain six feet of distancing and many not, and only a few wearing masks.
h/t: Raleigh News & Observer , WNCN
