The Viral Coronavirus Protest Photo from Ohio

It’s the first COVID-19 news photo described as viral without a hint of irony. But that doesn’t mean it’s not deadly.

At first, I thought I was looking at a subway car. Far from people trapped in a chamber, however, they are actually trying their best to disrupt one, banging on the windows of the Ohio Statehouse during the governor’s COVID-19 press briefing to update citizens and keep them safe.

But so much for shelter-in-place or social distancing. These protesters are demanding an end to most disease mitigation at the same time the raging coronavirus has now killed 150,000 people and infected 2.2 million others.

As a living embodiment of the kerosine the president has poured over his own administration’s stay-at-home advisory, we see Melissa Ackison, the enflamed woman far left. She is running for the Ohio state senate and agrees with Trump–in direct contradiction of the US Constitution’s 10th amendment–that the president has authority over state governors. She also falls in line with him in blaming a faulty response to the pandemic on the World Health Organization. That’s the body whose coronavirus testing protocol the White House rejected, the consequence being the country is still far from step one on the “test, trace and isolate” recovery path.

If she wins her race, Ackison won’t have to bang any further. She can light the place from the inside.

(– Michael Shaw)⠀
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Photo: Joshua Bickel/The Columbus Dispatch Caption: Some Republicans in the Ohio legislature are publicly calling on Gov. Mike DeWine to consider removing coronavirus-related restrictions beginning next month, while on Monday, around 100 protesters gathered outside the Statehouse during Dewine’s daily COVID-19 press briefing.

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