WASHINGTON — One of Jay Timmons’s Facebook friends invited him last week to attend a “Reopen Virginia” rally in Richmond, a protest against the stay-at-home order issued amid the coronavirus by the state’s Democratic governor. Mr. Timmons unfriended the sender, then published a searing retort, criticizing the protesters and accusing them of putting manufacturing workers’ lives at risk by defying rules meant to limit the spread of the virus.

Mr. Timmons’s post began with a single word in all capital letters: “IDIOTS.”

A chief of staff to a Republican former governor of Virginia, Mr. Timmons now heads the National Association of Manufacturers, one of America’s largest business lobbying groups. His frustrations, which he detailed this week online and in a 30-minute interview, show the stark divide between the small-but-loud groups of protesters who are marching on state capitols to demand an immediate lifting of restrictions on economic activity and business leaders who have called for more gradual and careful steps toward reopening.

“These people are standing so close together without any protection — with children, for God’s sakes,” Mr. Timmons said in a video call. “And they have no concern, and it’s all about them, and it’s all about what they want. And you know what? Every one of us wants it. Every one of us wants some sense of normalcy. But I can tell you this: We’ll never have it if our manufacturing workers can’t do their jobs, if they can’t get that personal protective equipment manufactured, so that everybody has access to it to go back out into public.”

Mr. Timmons said he supported Americans’ right to protest, but he encouraged people to exercise that right within the confines of social distancing protocol. He suggested posting on social media, calling the offices of political leaders, even writing “strongly worded, vitriolic letters” to news media outlets or lawmakers.