Karen Tirio, secretary of the McHenry County Republican Party and director of staffing at Monarch Senior Care, was fed up with the stay-at-home order and decided Wednesday to protest.

Witnesses told the Northwest Herald a vehicle with American flags and a Monarch Senior Care logo on it was driving around Woodstock Square honking late Wednesday afternoon and late Wednesday evening.

The vehicle, according to witnesses, had “Open Businesses” written on one window and “Pritzker Bite Me” on another window.

Tirio, who is married to McHenry County Clerk Joe Tirio, admitted to the Northwest Herald that it was her driving.

“This is tyranny. Shutting down people’s business is tyranny. And I guess I’m drawing a line in the sand today,” she said. “Today is the day.”

The Northwest Herald asked Tirio for pictures of her vehicle, and she had agreed to send them but then stopped responding Wednesday night. The van was covered with a tarp Wednesday night in her driveway, and then Tirio was seen driving through the square again Thursday with new messages on the vehicle.

Tirio’s business, which provides in-home care to senior citizens, is open, but her goal was to advocate for “Americans who want to work.”

“This [lockdown] is a suggestion. This is not the law. I am not for that suggestion,” she said. “I’m for working, not for collecting unemployment or government checks.”

Tirio said her clients would agree with her.

“They’re from the greatest generation. They are the lions not the sheep. They would agree with this. They think [the lockdown] is ridiculous,” she said.