Virginia’s Department of Health website encourages residents to snitch on people who violate coronavirus restrictions on public gatherings
06/26/2020 / By Arsenio Toledo
As Virginia slowly reopens the state after a long period of lockdown, the state’s Department of Public Health is urging residents to report public gatherings and other related activities that violate Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam’s coronavirus restrictions.
As of June 23, Virginia has over 58,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 1,645 deaths. In mid-May, Virginia began the long road to finally reopening the state. Northam had a “phased plan” that allowed some economic activities to resume under each phase. However, many of the restrictions put in place at the beginning of the pandemic were still there.
One of these restrictions was placed on religious institutions such as churches, mosques and synagogues. Under the reopening plan, they will be allowed to hold services if they only operate at no more than 50 percent indoor capacity, and that individuals who attend services practice social distancing regulations by keeping six feet apart from each other when seated.
State’s website encourages snitching
According to the Washington Free Beacon, Virginia’s health department website has been updated to include an option that allows people to anonymously report anybody who isn’t wearing a face mask or exceeds the emergency limits on building capacity. The form even has a drop-down list that allows users to specify what kind of establishment they are reporting. This list includes religious services, which means that Northam is urging Virginians to snitch on their devout neighbors who want to go to church.
Other establishments in the drop-down list include brick and mortar retail stores, restaurants, wineries or breweries, groceries and convenience stores, grooming services, fitness and exercise establishments and indoor gun ranges. (Related: No protests allowed: Virginia governor “Blackface” Northam signs bevy of gun control bills while citizens are locked down due to coronavirus.)
“These complaints can be made anonymously.” said Republican state senator Mark Obenshain. “There is nothing to prevent businesses from snitching on competitors, or to prevent the outright fabrication of reports.”
Governor of Virginia is now trying to turn us into a society of informers and snitches?
Read my full statement here: https://t.co/Vwm5jjUIKw
— Mark Obenshain (@MarkObenshain) June 18, 2020
“So it appears that the full force and weight of the state government is poised and ready to drop on restaurants, churches and wineries for perceived violations of the Governor’s orders.”
Listen to this episode of the Health Ranger Report, a podcast by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, as he talks about how people should not be complicit; just because the initial wave has slowed down, doesn’t mean the pandemic is over.
Virginia government tough on coronavirus restrictions, but soft on rioters
Obenshain further commented on Northam’s hypocrisy, as the governor is quick to enforce coronavirus restrictions and penalties for violating said restrictions, while supposedly doing next to nothing to protect the state against the engineered riots occurring in the state.
This seems to be a pattern when it comes to Virginia’s responses to both the coronavirus pandemic and the wave of civil unrest.
In response to the demonstrations occurring across Virginia, all the Department of Health did to protect its citizens from the coronavirus was to talk about how they were concerned about the health of the people participating in the rioting.
Instead of advising demonstrators to avoid joining large crowds, which can spread the coronavirus more easily, they are instead advising them to wear masks, wash their hands and practice social distancing.
Virginia State Health Commissioner Norm Oliver said that the Virginia Department of Health supports the right to protest, but that people who have underlying health conditions, as well as flu-like symptoms such as fever and cough, to stay at home and to get tested.
The pandemic is far from over. Stay on top of it by reading the articles at Pandemic.news.
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Tagged Under: China, churches, coronavirus, covid-19, demonstrations, economy, flu, government, infections, outbreak, pandemic, protests, Ralph Northam, religious congregations, religious services, reopening, rioting, riots, superbugs, Virginia, virus
