







People gathered in front of the Ohio state capitol to protest the way the state has handled the coronavirus pandemic.

Currently, Ohio is under a “Shelter-at-Home” order until May 1, which it has been under since March 23.

Around 100 people came to Ohio’s capital Columbus Thursday to protest, according to Tom Bosco, an ABC6 journalist. On their way to the building, Bosco said people were chanting “Open Ohio.”

While I’m inside, protestors outside. About 100 marched past @OhioStatehouse, chanting “Open Ohio.” Signs reading “Quarantine Worse Than Coronavirus.” Followed by a guy yelling into megaphone about scripture. Not sure if it’s 1 protest or 2. pic.twitter.com/3NYWitgl3E — Tom Bosco (@tomwsyx6) April 9, 2020

While at the capitol, people called for Ohio Department of Health (ODH) Director Amy Acton to resign.

Protesters said, “O-H-I-O, Acton has got to go,” and followed this chant up by asking the ODH director to show them their sources.

“Cite your sources, Show us the data,” the crowd yelled repeatedly.

People at the protest also told Gov. DeWine to open back up the state’s economy.

Since the first COVID-19 case came to Ohio, the governor has taken aggressive measures by closing down schools, shutting down many businesses and delaying the state’s primary.

“Quarantine worse than the virus,” people screamed.

The protesters told state legislators that they work for them. When in front of the capitol building’s stairs, the crowd of people said, “No paycheck for us, no paycheck for you.”

“No more guessing open Ohio now,” they yelled.

Ohio’s economy has been hurting over the last three weeks as many industries have been shut down to prevent the stop of the coronavirus. To illustrate, the Buckeye State has seen 694,779 unemployment benefit claims the last three weeks, which is the sixth most for an American state during this span, PBS reported.

During Thursday’s press conference, Acton tried to ease Ohioan’s concerns.

“@DrAmyActon:This is a hard mountain to climb. It is an arduous climb up this mountain and we have done this together. But the decent is challenging too,” DeWine tweeted. “Every move we’re making is based on the best science, and we will not leave you as we get you through this journey.”

“The journey is like a mountain range. We’re reaching a peak. We’ll be seeing more deaths. We will escort you carefully to recovery, but we must do it responsibly. #InThisTogetherOhio #StayHomeOhio”

The journey is like a mountain range. We're reaching a peak. We'll be seeing more deaths. We will escort you carefully to recovery, but we must do it responsibly. #InThisTogetherOhio #StayHomeOhio — Governor Mike DeWine (@GovMikeDeWine) April 9, 2020

As of Thursday, Ohio has 5,512 confirmed coronavirus cases and 213 deaths according to ODH numbers.

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Zachery Schmidt is the digital editor of Star News Digital Media. If you have any tips, email Zachery at [email protected]

Photo “Protesters at Ohio Capitol” by Team Cunningham.