A viral video of Denver, Colorado, healthcare workers pushing back against anti-lockdown protestors is circulating on social media.
News reports have revealed protesters in multiple cities blocking traffic to try and fight against coronavirus stay-at-home orders. Two frontline nurses in Denver decided to stage a counterprotest.
The video, reportedly filmed at a Colorado protest on Sunday, shows a woman hanging out of the window of a Dodge Ram truck with a sign that reads, “Land Free” while a nurse blocks her vehicle.
As drivers continue to honk their horns, the woman can be heard yelling at the nurse, “Go to China if you want communism.”
Check out the video below:
Two nurses, who have witnessed first hand the toll Covid is taking in Colorado, stood up and peacefully counter protested. Here is how they were treated. I had join them. pic.twitter.com/iJnNcqZxSv
— MarcZenn (@MarcZenn) April 19, 2020
The nurses’ viral video has garnered reactions from Twitter users who have praised the healthcare workers for their work and their actions.
As a surgeon I’m constantly reminded that Nurses are the glue that really hold everything together.
— Joseph Sakran (@JosephSakran) April 20, 2020
Proud of these 2 RN’s in Colorado who stood up to peacefully protest people not abiding by stay-at-home orders. #CoronavirusUSA #COVIDー19 #TogetherAtHomepic.twitter.com/7CpbiVYwbG
You want to honor nurses? Well, I think their stance on these protests is pretty clear. Some amazing shots in Denver by @McclaranAlyson pic.twitter.com/nXvNxUhhfX
— Mitchell Byars (@mitchellbyars) April 20, 2020
Remarkable scene at 12th and Grant, where two healthcare workers from a Denver-area hospital — they declined to say which or give their names — are standing in the crosswalk during red lights as a “reminder,” they say, of why shutdown measures are in place. pic.twitter.com/7xTjXvGN2E
— Chase Woodruff (@dcwoodruff) April 19, 2020
The heightened weekend protests began shortly after President Donald Trump’s “liberate” tweets on Friday.
Following the first protests in Michigan, Trump supporters in other states — including Colorado, Texas, California, Florida, Louisiana, Minnesota, and others — began to flood streets to protest stay-at-home orders even as coronavirus cases and deaths continued to rise. Some protesters even created obstacles for ambulances trying to get to hospitals, according to reports.
The crowd is now several hundred. Impossible to get an accurate count.
— Theo Keith (@TheoKeith) April 17, 2020
The crowd has been mostly civil, though one woman was telling people, “Don’t get near me. I’ve got COVID!” pic.twitter.com/JxE4LmTOrI
During Saturday’s White House Coronavirus Task Force press briefing, Trump was confronted about the protestors and he seemed to defend them.
Despite footage capturing hundreds of protestors not practicing social distancing guidelines which could increase the possibility of spreading the virus at an accelerated rate, Trump believes the protestors were acting responsibly.
Trump also criticized Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-Mich.) and Gov. Ralph Northam (D-Va.), insisting the stay-at-home orders are “too tough.”
“These are people expressing their views,” Trump said. “I see where they are and I see the way they’re working. They seem to be very responsible people to me, but they’ve been treated a little bit rough.”
As of Monday morning, the United States has more than 760,000 coronavirus cases and over 40,000 deaths.