Demonstrations against coronavirus measures spread across US as Fox News, Limbaugh and others champion conservative effort

Protests against stay-at-home coronavirus rules have gained support from rightwing politicians and media groups in recent days, setting up a battle between scientists and public health leaders who say restrictions are necessary and some Republicans demanding the measures be lifted.

The Michigan Conservative Committee organized a rally, dubbed “Operation Gridlock”, outside Michigan’s state capitol on Wednesday, demanding that the governor, Gretchen Whitmer, lift restrictions designed to limit the spread of coronavirus. Thousands of people drove to Lansing, waving Donald Trump 2020 campaign signs chanting “lock her up”, and flouting social distancing restrictions.

Demonstrations against coronavirus measures are spreading across the US, with people holding rallies in North Carolina, Utah, Kentucky and Ohio in recent days. A protest is planned in Virginia on Thursday, while a Texas rally, pushed by a host on the rightwing conspiracy theory website Infowars, is set to target the state capitol in Austin on Saturday.

Despite health officials stressing the importance of stay-at-home measures, prominent figures on the right, including Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, and rightwing website the Gateway Pundit have begun to champion the conservative effort.

Play Video 4:42 Who is driving the US protests against coronavirus lockdown? – video explainer

Laura Ingraham, host of the Ingraham Angle on Fox News, was among those to praise the Michigan protest. She told her 3 million Twitter followers it was “time to get your freedom back” as she posted a video of protesters en route to Lansing.

“Soon Marylanders, Virginians, etc will stand for their right to work, travel, assemble, socialize and worship? Massive long-lasting damage is piling up day after day as many ‘experts’ continue to get the virus analysis wrong,” Ingraham said.

Limbaugh also cheered the protesters, while the Fox News host Jeanine Pirro said health officials “overblew what was going to happen in terms of the number of people who were going to die”.

“What happened in Lansing today? God bless them, it’s going to happen all over the country,” Pirro said.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Protesters take part in ‘Operation Gridlock’ in front of the state capitol in Lansing, Michigan, on Wednesday. Photograph: Jeffrey Sauger/EPA

Michigan has the third-highest death toll from coronavirus in the US, with almost 2,000 killed. Whitmer introduced an updated stay-at-home order last week, which imposed stricter restrictions on non-essential travel and the products sold in grocery stores.

“We know that this demonstration is going to come at a cost to people’s health,” Whitmer said on Wednesday.

“We know that when people gather that way without masks … that’s how Covid-19 spreads. And so the sad irony here is that the protest was that they don’t like being in this stay-at-home order, and they may have just created a need to lengthen it, which is something we’re trying to avoid at all costs.”

Dan Bongino, a rightwing podcast host and Fox News contributor, tweeted a link to a post on his website which called the Michigan lockdown order “absurd” while Michigan house Republicans also tacitly backed the protests.

“[The protesters] are upset the governor is thinking in terms of what jobs are ‘essential’ or ‘non-essential’, instead of considering whether a job can be done safely. If workers are able to use proper social distancing practices on the job, we believe they should be able to earn a living,” Michigan house Republicans said in a tweet.

“The governor’s one-size-fits-all approach also is causing frustration. Since different regions of the state are experiencing varying levels of exposure, why doesn’t the governor take a more regional approach to her order?”