A small number of protesters have gathered in Albany to demand “communist” Gov. Andrew Cuomo reopen New York state.

Cuomo announced Thursday morning that a statewide stay-at-home order would be extended until May 15, keeping schools and non-essential businesses closed to slow the spread of coronavirus. New York state has confirmed more than 222,000 cases of COVID-19 and over 12,000 deaths, Cuomo said during a press briefing Thursday.

“That is still continuing at a really tragic, tragic rate,” Cuomo said of the death toll.

Photos and video show a protest began Thursday afternoon outside the New York State Capitol Building to oppose Cuomo extending New York PAUSE. About 30 people gathered to defy social distancing rules, waving flags and signs that say “Don’t Tread on Me," “Trump 2020” and “Communist Cuomo Has to Go.”

About 30 people, most of whom say they will ignore @NYGovCuomo’s new executive order to wear facemasks in public, have gathered in front of the State Capitol for a rally to reopen New York State and spur the economy. pic.twitter.com/7u1GpIolWg — Matt Hunter (@MattHunterTV) April 16, 2020

Vice reports a Facebook livestream from the event’s organizer, “Mike Gee,” showed one man calling the New York governor a “communist dictator” because pharmacies are unable to offer hydroxychloroquine for treating coronavirus. President Donald Trump has promoted the anti-malaria drug for treating COVID-19, despite no conclusive evidence supporting it.

“We don’t want handouts, we want to go back to work,” one protester told Gee. “We can do it in a smart way. Everyone else in that building is waiting for someone else to say ‘jump’ because nobody wants to be responsible if something goes sideways. They’re still getting their pay, they’re still working on your dime.”

Protest outside the New York State Capitol Building in Albany.



These NYers are saying want to get back to work/eager for NY Pause to end.



Some have traveled from NYC and Syracuse, per Post photographer Hans Pennink. pic.twitter.com/ZRjsOYj6fv — Bernadette Hogan (@bern_hogan) April 16, 2020

Similar rallies with varying crowd sizes, often featuring Republican supporters wearing MAGA hats, have been reported in other states, including North Carolina, Ohio, Utah, Wyoming and Virginia. Thousands created a gridlock in Lansing, Michigan, on Wednesday to demand Gov. Gretchen Whitmer end a statewide ban on gatherings and non-essential businesses.

“Quarantine is when you restrict movement of sick people. Tyranny is when you restrict the movement of healthy people,” Meshawn Maddock, an organizer of “Operation Gridlock” with the Michigan Conservative Coalition, told Fox News. “Every person has learned a harsh lesson about social distancing. We don’t need a nanny state to tell people how to be careful.”

“It’s time for our state to be opened up. I’m tired of not being able to buy the things we need, go to the hair dressers, get our hair done,” one Michigan protester, Brenda Esman, told Fox News.

This photo, from an Ohio protest demanding opening the economy, is everything (taken by Joshua A. Bickel for The Columbus Dispatch) pic.twitter.com/WlSHauMvjM — Zack Beauchamp (@zackbeauchamp) April 15, 2020

Thousands of people from all over Michigan are converging on our state Capitol today to protest the governor’s restrictive “Stay Home” order and get their voices, and car horns, heard. #OperationGridlock pic.twitter.com/bgjH4wKCUQ — MI House Republicans (@MI_Republicans) April 15, 2020

Cuomo extends closure of schools, nonessential businesses into May

Cuomo to New York businesses on reopening: ‘Reimagine your workplace’

NY’s all-the-time mask law is the most restrictive in the nation; other states are catching up

Coronavirus toll on Upstate NY companies: 40 percent lay off workers