Health

Protesters call on Baker to reopen economy outside State House

BOSTON — Dozens of people protested outside the State House Monday, calling on state leaders to reopen the economy following the coronavirus crisis.

Most of the protestors were not practicing social distancing – or wearing face masks.

“I’m here to shut the shutdown down, I think this is nothing worse than the flu and (pneumonia)," said George Derochers, one of the protestors. “People need to watch out what they do with themselves, take care of themselves like a regular flu, we don’t shut our country down. I’m 62 years old and I’m mad.”

Derochers, like many others, says he has lost a lot of business during this pandemic.

“It’s killed me, my employees, everything, so we don’t believe it, we just want to go back to work,” said Derochers.

But not so fast – according to Gov. Charlie Baker Monday. He says most non-essential businesses will remain closed until at least May 18 in Massachusetts.

“There won’t be anyone firing a starting gun on May 18th and saying everybody’s off to the races,” said Baker Monday. “But we do hope that certain types of businesses and workplaces will be able to begin resuming operations under the guidelines established through this process

That process includes experts working on a set of phases to safely reopen the economy in stages. The board’s guidelines will be released by May 18.

“The decisions they’re making are completely arbitrary, who’s essential who’s non-essential,” said Jim Campbell, one of the protestors outside the State House.

Frustrated and fed up with these restrictions, most of these protestors started chanting “the coronavirus is a hoax” and they hope the governor hears their message to get back to normal sooner rather than later.

“I don’t want to see anybody die, nobody does,” said Derochers. “But we got to take care of ourselves, our immune system, everybody knows themselves, talk to your doctor. Otherwise you don’t shut our country down."

Starting Wednesday, Baker says everyone will have to wear a mask in public if you cannot practice social distancing under his new executive order. If you don’t wear a face covering, you could face a $300 fine, but Baker says he’ll leave it up to local police departments to enforce this new order.

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