California has a coronavirus stay-at-home order. So why did CHP permit a large protest?

Gov. Gavin Newsom has issued an order banning large gatherings because of the coronavirus crisis, and Sacramento-area law enforcement officials warned last week that they will start citing people who violate the ban.

So why would state Capitol officials approve a Monday protest against shelter-in-place orders that is advertised as attracting as many as 500 people?

It’s not entirely clear. The Capitol’s protest permit website shows the planned demonstration is permitted for noon on the west steps of the Capitol building, which is currently fenced off as part of a renovation project.

The California Highway Patrol’s capitol protection section, which issues such permits, referred questions Monday to the Senate Rules Committee. An official with that committee referred questions to the sergeant at arms, who said the Senate president pro tem’s office would have to answer. The pro tem’s office was looking into whether the permit was valid.

Officials appear to be expecting a protest. Shortly after 9 a.m., two trailers that carry CHP patrol horses were parked on the east side of the Capitol, where more than half a dozen officers were gathered. Officers on bicycles were also cruising the grounds, despite the fact that the Capitol is closed to the public. Seven porta potties, two hand washing stations and a speaker system were being set up.

The planned protest is one of many that have cropped up in recent days nationwide – some at the urging of President Trump through his Twitter feed – and one of several planned nationwide today and later in the week. Protesters elsewhere have complained about orders to stay home, arguing that such bans on movements and gatherings are illegal and pointless, despite warnings from federal health officials that such groups pose a danger because of COVID-19.

The Sacramento rally was organized by a group of activists who last year protested a new state law that restricts medical exemptions for vaccines that are mandatory for schoolchildren.

Freedom Angels, the organization known for its activism over vaccines, on social media in recent weeks railed against Newsom’s strict stay-at-home order and proposals for a so-called coronavirus “testing and tracing” system that public health officials say will eventually help determine who has already been infected with COVID-19.

“People need to get back to work, get back to life, get back into contact with their loved ones’ who they’re isolated from, they need to be able to have a paycheck,” said co-founder Tara Thornton. “This is the grounds they will enslave us upon.”

The group obtained a permit to protest that suggests it expects up to 500 people to attend its rally.

One of the first protesters to show up Monday was an iron worker who would only give his first name, Zach, and said he had lost his job because of the governor’s shutdown.

“It’s ruining lives,” he said as he sat on a bench with a cardboard sign reading “enough is enough.”

“The economy is sinking down and people are bored and depressed and unemployed.”

Zach was dressed in a souvenir San Francisco T-shirt and had no mask or gloves. He said he believes coronavirus is dangerous but that he does not believe wearing a mask helps reduce the spread.

Sacramento coronavirus protest details

The planned Sacramento protest was to have begun with set-up at 8 a.m. and a program to start at 8:15 a.m., according to the permit website. But there was no sign of any demonstration by 10 a.m. Monday. A Facebook post from last week touting the protest said it would begin at noon.

Such protests typically are watched over by CHP officials on the Capitol grounds and from the building, with Sacramento police officers providing security on the sidewalks and streets around the Capitol. There were no obvious sign of Sacramento police Monday morning, and a spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The protest follows a rally in Huntington Beach on Saturday where hundreds of people called for a re-opening of California’s economy, as well as protests in other state capitals. On Sunday, thousands of people protested Washington State’s stay-at-home order in Olympia and President Donald Trump in a series of messages on Twitter seemed to encourage people to “liberate” their state economies.

COVID-19 has killed more than 1,150 people in California and infected 30,000, according to the state Department of Public Health. Newsom signed an executive order on March 19 to keep people at home until the threat of infection wanes.

Freedom Angels said in a Thursday Facebook video it has plans for additional rallies on April 24 and May 1.

Freedom Angels did not respond to questions from The Sacramento Bee, but a flyer posted to social media urges participants in “Operation Gridlock” to bring signs and flags.

State Sen. Richard Pan, D-Sacramento, said people “should be able to petition their government,” but discouraged public protests that can pose a significant public health risk.

“We know this disease, when people cluster together for periods of time, is how it spreads. That’s why we have the orders not to gather,” Pan said. “There’s a certain level of selfishness and lack of concern for other people and that’s concerning.”

Protests against the stay-at-home directive could harm the state’s battle against the virus, public health experts say.

“The best tool we currently have to prevent the spread of COVID-19 right now is physical distancing which is facilitated by sheltering in place and handwashing,” said Brandon Brown, an epidemiologist and associate professor in the Center for Healthy Communities at UC Riverside School of Medicine. “Resistant efforts such as in person protests or rallies against shelter in place orders and pushback against physical distancing can reverse the positive progress we have achieved thus far in flattening the curve.”