The claim: Phoenix hosted a protest to end COVID-19

As the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the U.S. tops 186,000 and the death toll surpasses 3,600, governors in states across the country have issued executive stay at home orders to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

While cities across the country are effectively shutting down to practice social distancing, various social media posts are claiming that some of the nation's cities, including Cleveland and Phoenix, are hosting massive COVID-19 rallies and protests.

The post alleging Cleveland hosted a protest has since been debunked, as the circulating photos showed a crowd of maroon and gold from a past Cleveland Cavaliers victory parade.

The March 29 Facebook post that inaccurately claims Arizonans were protesting the coronavirus has been shared over 600 times in three days.

The photos in the post are actually from President Donald Trump's 2017 rally at the Phoenix Convention Center.

Whoadie Marquez, the user who posted the claim, said he saw his friend shared the post on Snapchat so he took a screenshot and posted it to Facebook, but he wasn't sure if it was true.

Arizona's stay at home order

In Arizona, Gov. Doug Ducey issued a "Stay Home, Stay Healthy, Stay Connected" executive order that took effect March 31 and will continue through April 30, unless it is extended.

Under the order, Arizonans are expected to limit their time away from their household unless they are participating in essential activities, volunteering or utilizing essential services. But social distancing generally was encouraged well before the order took effect.

At the time of publication, Arizona has 1,413 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 29 deaths.

Our ruling: False

We rate the claim that Phoenix hosted a COVID-19 protest false because the post's accompanying photos are actually from a 2017 Trump rally.

Phoenix has not hosted any coronavirus related protests or rallies and the state's residents are now under an executive order to stay at home.

Our fact-check sources:

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