NY lockdown protesters with NO MASKS rail against Gov as he tells them ‘get job as essential worker’  – The Sun

DEMONSTRATORS in New York have raged against Governor Andrew Cuomo’s coronavirus lockdown.

Hundreds of protesters gathered at the Capitol building in Albany, Upstate New York on Wednesday, as Governor Cuomo was giving his daily COVID-19 press conference.

Dubbed “Operation Gridlock: Reopen New York State", protesters fed up with the shutdown held placards and chanted, while drivers honked the horns of cars decorated with American flags and Trump 2020 signs.

In his daily briefing, Governor Cuomo acknowledged the protest but appeared unmoved.

“Nothing comes before public health risk,” Governor Cuomo said of those demanding an end to isolation measures so they can get back to work.

“You want to go to work so badly? Then go get a job as an essential worker and go to work.

“How can the cure be worse than death?” he asked. “What is worse than death? The illness is death.”

Protesters held signs targeting the Governor with one reading “Dictator Cuomo, give our lives back.”

“Cuomo sucks” and “Cuomo a**hole,” read some others.

Demonstrators, many of whom did not wear face coverings or practice social distancing, chanted “Let us out.”

“People are losing their livelihoods,” one woman said. “This can’t go on. It’s ridiculous.”

Another she said she was there to support local businesses, urging the government to allow them to re-open before the end of the New York State Pause, which has been extended to May 15 in an effort to combat the coronavirus pandemic.

It comes as the US death toll from coronavirus doubled in just one week, growing to more than 45,000 killed.

COVID-19 has hit New York harder than any other state in the US, with more than 250,000 cases and 14,828 deaths.

Lockdown rules, which experts say are essential to slow the spread of the virus, have ground the economy across all continents to a virtual standstill.

Across America, groups of demonstrators — some armed with high-powered assault rifles — have been seen taking to the streets in protest of lockdown orders aimed at limiting the spread of the killer virus.

It comes as unemployment numbers across the nation reached an unprecedented 22 million — wiping out the gains made in the decade since the 2008 financial crisis.

Some states, including Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina and Texas have eased social distancing restrictions, despite warnings that ending the shutdown now could have a worse economic impact in the long run.

The government's coronavirus advisor Dr Anthony Fauci warned of reopening states too soon:

"The message [from the protests] is that clearly this is something that is hurting from the standpoint of economics, from the standpoint of things that have nothing to do with the virus.

"But unless we get the virus under control, the real recovery economically is not going to happen.”

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