Some state and local governments vote against COVID-19 restrictions, citing ’tyranny’ as US deaths approach 3,000 per day

• Several state and local governments have recently voted to rebuke governors’ public health orders.
• This week, hearings and votes were taken up in Colorado, Missouri, Ohio, Virginia and Washington to flout restrictions.
• In Virginia, almost 100 people packed into the Campbell County Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday, with many taking their masks off upon entering and never putting them back on, according to the Washington Post.
• Many of these votes are nonbinding resolutions, but some proponents say that’s not the point.
• Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

The United States is setting grim milestones as daily recorded COVID-19 cases surge to over 200,000 and deaths approach 3,000, but several state and local governments are moving to thwart COVID-19 restrictions.

Lots of these votes are nonbinding resolutions, while others are in murkier legal territory.

Regardless of the measures’ legal standing, the Americans pushing for are examples of the nationwide backlash to public health efforts to contain the worst surge of the coronavirus facing the nation thus far.

Colorado, Missouri, Ohio, Virginia and Washington are among the states that have had hearings or votes this week regarding public health measures, from state legislatures to county governments.

The overarching theme among proponents of these votes is to send a message to governors emphasizing the challenges facing small businesses, though there are also activists from the anti-vaccination movement involved.

A third wave of anti-lockdown activism

In Ohio, one of the key players in moving against Republican Gov. Mike DeWine's health orders has been Barry Sheets, a lobbyist for one of the biggest anti-vaccine groups in the state, according to the Highland County Press.

Sheets recently argued in front of a statehouse committee that contact tracing is unconstitutional, and he's registered as a lobbyist on six pandemic-related bills.

He gained notoriety in the Buckeye State following his push for a bill that would have allowed health insurance providers to cover the cost of reinserting a fertilized egg into the uterus, which experts have called "impossible."

Sheets's messaging is similar to that of others in the broader anti-lockdown movement - a term which Dr. Anthony Fauci called a "misunderstanding" on Wednesday - in using wording centered around civil liberties instead of public health.

In Virginia, residents of Campbell County compared themselves to the "patriots" of the American Revolution and lambasted the "tyranny" of Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam, according to the Washington Post.

Almost 100 people packed into the county's board of supervisors meeting on Tuesday in Rutsburg, and many "took off their face coverings and applauded an official resolution rejecting Gov. Ralph Northam's coronavirus restrictions," according to the Post.

"Free people have a duty to push back against these restrictions," the official, County Supervisor Charlie Watts II, told the crowd.

Campbell County became the first in the state to pass a "Nullify Northam" measure, declaring the county a "First Amendment sanctuary" and ordering local officials to refrain from enforcing any of the governor's measures.

The board in nearby Bedford County considered a resolution that would have "punished officials enforcing pandemic restrictions, including withholding funding from the sheriff and ordering the arrest of state agents," according to the Post.

'No, we don't have the authority'

In Colorado, a special legislative session resulted in Democrats making concessions to Republicans over a relief package, effectively allowing businesses in counties refusing to comply with COVID-19 restrictions to receive pandemic aid anyway, according to the Colorado Sun.

That still wasn't enough for some Republicans, such as Rep. Dave Williams, R-Colorado Springs.

"We have come to the point where we are beginning to see the bubbling of soft tyranny," Williams said, according to the Sun. 

"I do believe there should be more counties and municipalities and businesses that do engage in civil disobedience," he said. "There are people going out of business - not mainly because of COVID but because of the orders being imposed upon them."

In Washington, the Mossyrock City Council voted unanimously to ignore key portions of Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee's latest coronavirus orders, including language that the city "will not recognize" any of the bans on indoor dining and capacity limits, according to KING 5, the local NBC affiliate.

Like other municipalities and county governments making similar moves, Mossyrock's mayor acknowledged they have no authority to actually buck the governor's executive orders. But he argued that isn't really the point.

"No, we don't have the authority," Mayor Randall Sasser said. "It gets the word out, it gets people thinking about really, what is happening?"

Anti-lockdown protests have happened in many countries around the world, but the US still remains the nation with the most deaths and confirmed cases.

Back in Virginia, Lynchburg resident Aaron McMullen called any criticism of the county board's resistance against Gov. Northam's public health measures "fear tactics," and said Virginians "need someone to stand up and not bow down," according to the Post.

At that hearing - where the Post reported the majority of attendees took off their masks upon entering and never put them back on - 79-year-old James Cerillo was one of just two people who spoke out against the county rebuking public health orders.

"If I hold this Constitution up, is that going to prevent you from getting the virus?" he said. "The virus is not going away. The virus is going to get worse. The virus is killing people every day. This is not a political thing."

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