Fox News hosts are rallying to the cause of conservative activists who are protesting Michigan’s social distancing measures, raising the probability that similar movements will spread across the country with potentially catastrophic results.

In order to enforce limited face-to-face contact and reduce the spread of the contagious and deadly novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, governors across the country have banned large gatherings, closed schools, bars, restaurants, and non-essential businesses, and issued shelter-in-place orders instructing people not to leave their homes unnecessarily. These efforts appear to have succeeded in limiting deaths caused by the virus, but at the cost of an unprecedented unemployment surge.

The economic decline is triggering a backlash among conservatives against social distancing measures. President Donald Trump is reportedly fixated on reopening much of the country on May 1. Fox hosts are similarly pushing for a swift end to the lockdown, claiming that the lowered death projections show not that social distancing has succeeded but that public health experts were wrong to recommend it because the virus isn’t that dangerous. And conservatives are beginning to launch protest movements against the measures, with the support of Trump’s political allies.

This is incredibly dangerous. Public health officials, governors, and members of Trump’s own hand-picked council of business leaders are all warning that if people return to work without a drastic increase in testing capacity, it will both lead to a new wave of COVID-19 cases and fail to significantly improve the economy. And the increasing calls for public defiance of the measures are reportedly raising alarms inside the Trump administration’s coronavirus task force, with officials worrying that the president’s base may stop following public health recommendations.

Wednesday saw the largest public demonstration against social distancing measures so far, as thousands of people swarmed the state Capitol in Lansing, Michigan, in a protest against Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s stay-at-home order. The protest, dubbed “Operation Gridlock,” was organized by the Michigan Conservative Coalition and the Michigan Freedom Fund, a group linked to the DeVos family, which heavily funds right-wing organizations and politicians in the state and nationwide.

Fox served up fawning coverage of the Lansing protesters throughout the day on Wednesday, devoting more than a dozen segments to their cause.

“NO TO THE ‘NANNY STATE’” read the headline of the lead story on the website’s front page that afternoon. Daytime anchors either falsely claimed the attendees were observing social distancing or blamed Whitmer for their failure to do so. And protest organizers got softball interviews to promote their cause to millions of viewers.

Fox host Tucker Carlson concluded one such interview by describing Whitmer’s actions as “mindless and authoritarian,” expressing the hope that she loses her job, and telling his guest, “Thank you for exercising your constitutionally protected rights as an American. Bless you.”

Fox host Jeanine Pirro gushed over the protest on Hannity. “They want to keep us away from churches and synagogues. They want to make sure we don't go back to work. They don't get it. The American spirit is too strong and Americans are not going to take it,” she said. “And what happened in Lansing today? God bless them, it's going to happen all over the country.”

On Twitter, Fox host Laura Ingraham wrote of the Michigan protests, “Time to get your freedom back.” She also suggested similar protests would pop up around the country as people “stand for their right to work, travel, assemble, socialize and worship.”

Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade picked up that thread on Thursday morning, predicting more such protests across the country against “ridiculous” efforts by governors to curtail the virus’s spread.