A slew of protests have begun against state-wide stay at home orders as many protestors claim the mandates are both unconstitutional and unnecessary when in reality these stay at home orders are quite literally the difference between life and death for many when it comes to flattening the curve amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Protests are happening all over the country with some not too far from La Verne as they have touched areas such as San Diego, Newport Beach and Huntington Beach.
Stay at home orders have been put in place to slow the spread of the coronavirus and make it manageable for health care workers. But with the constant gathering of protestors, their blatant lack of care has many of them grouped together standing less than six feet apart from one another and rightfully raising cause for concern.
We are only barely just beginning to flatten the curve, and if people begin to go outside again to gather in groups and violate stay at home orders the curve will only continue to grow larger, causing unsafe conditions for both health care workers and common citizens alike.
These protests are only further fueled by the incompetence of United States President Donald Trump and his lack of understanding of the virus as well as his lack of cohesive, efficient governmental decisions needed to protect the country from such hardships during the pandemic.
Rather than focusing on the health and safety of the country, Trump is more focused on jump starting the economy, only proving that a dollar sign holds more value than the lives of the American people.
At the heart of these protests and the desire to reopen the economy stands not the desire to go back to work, but rather a desire to partake in consumerism, only enabling a faulty capitalistic society that values economic stimulation over human life.
Viewing careless individuals gather to protest a viral pandemic is not only as ridiculous as it sounds, but raises frustration when considering the amount of people that are making legitimate sacrifices to ensure their own safety as well as their families and the community around them. Many have had to waive their right to say goodbye as their family members die alone in the hospital due to COVID-19. Yet selfish protestors cannot seem to comprehend why it is so dire that we follow stay at home orders throughout this pandemic. Many have been seen with signs emblazoned that they have the right to a haircut, or that social distancing equates to communism, which only goes to show that these protestors have only one thing in mind: their own selfish “needs.”
People all throughout the nation have sacrificed vital aspects of their everyday lives, not to mention the way in which first responders and health care workers have been sacrificing their own health day to day to ensure we are receiving the care that we need for such a fatal disease. Other essential workers such as grocery store employees have also made massive sacrifices to their own health to provide the essential products we need. Yet, all of these sacrifices are only put to waste and minimized by these protestors who have no care for those who are sacrificing for their sake.
Your haircut is not worth risking the lives of everyone around you, nor is staying at home to protect the health of the country at large a denial of your constitutional rights.
Unsigned editorials represent the opinion of the Campus Times Editorial Board.