Set us free, ‘Reopen Meck’ protesters demand as coronavirus shutters local businesses

Davidson College student Maya Pillai, who’s studying history and Hispanic studies and hopes to go to law school, has been attending classes online since mid-March because of the coronavirus pandemic.

But Pillai says it was talking to small-business owners and their employees that prompted her to start a Facebook group, Reopen Meck, to protest the state and Mecklenburg County stay-at-home orders that put many of them out of work.

“I realized there needed to be an outlet to let them know that they’re being heard,” Pillai, who’s from Tempe, Ariz., said Tuesday.

More than 730,000 North Carolina residents have filed unemployment claims since March 15. Pillai also cites reports of rising alcohol and drug abuse, suicide and domestic violence during lockdowns in 41 states.

The outlet that Pillai launched grew to about 1,200 Facebook members and will spill into uptown Charlotte’s streets Friday for a two-hour protest starting at noon.

Pillai expects the Charlotte event to have a different vibe than the protest by hundreds of ReopenNC members who took to Raleigh’s streets Tuesday for a third straight week. Reopen Mecklenburg says it is an offshoot of the statewide group.

Four protesters, including ReopenNC leader Ashley Smith, were arrested Tuesday when they stepped onto the sidewalk outside the governor’s mansion, violating police orders, Raleigh’s News & Observer reported. Protesters banged around the police car as she was taken away.

Charlotte’s protest will be car-based, Pillai said, to avoid an illicit mass gathering and so older people and those with disabilities can join.

Vehicles will start at the intersection of Trade and Tryon streets and drive to Third Street, then to College and Sixth Street before returning to Tryon. Seventy people say on Facebook they will go, with another 40 maybes.

Protesters who choose to go by foot are asked to stay six feet apart and wear gloves and masks. Many of the Raleigh protesters haven’t done that, according to news reports and images.

Pillai said she’s secured city permits for picketing and amplified sound for the two-hour event, which will start at noon.

“It’s important that we restore our economy and get it back in track,” Pillai said. “At the same time, I do recognize that there are people testing positive on a daily basis and the death count is rising as well.”

Open some counties sooner?

Gov. Roy Cooper, who extended the stay-at-home order to May 8, has said that while state data show a slowing of the spread of the virus, it’s too soon to lift the restrictions.

Positive trends in new cases, deaths and hospitalizations, coupled with expanded testing and larger supplies of medical protective gear, will determine whether a phased reopening of the state will begin after May 8, Cooper has said.

Republican U.S. Rep. Ted Budd, who is from Davie County, said Tuesday that he would encourage Cooper to allow some counties to open sooner than others.

“You’re hitting on what the real solution is. It’s not more replenishing of the PPP,” he said, referring to the Paycheck Protection Program for small businesses, in response to a question during a tele-town hall with Sen. Thom Tillis. “What the real answer is is getting back to what we can as normal as possible.”

Budd pointed to counties such as Alexander, Davie and Yancey that have not been hit hard by the outbreak. He said they should be treated differently than more urban counties that have been severely impacted, including Mecklenburg and Wake.

Cooper said Tuesday that a county-by-county approach is not practical nor would it work in stopping the spread. He said some people live in one county, work in another and shop in yet another.

“This virus does not respect county lines,” he said.

Safely reopen, let customers decide

Pillai favors a faster reopening approach like that of South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, who last week lifted restrictions on some retail stores, allowing store owners to reopen if they limit customers to 20% of the posted occupancy.

Members of Reopen Meck are “a good, diverse group of people who want to safely reopen and some who have definitely fallen on hard times because of the closures,” said Nikki Pratt-Nunley, an administrator of the Facebook group who counts herself among them.

Some point out that some of Mecklenburg’s restrictions are more restrictive than the state’s. Pratt-Nunley, a real estate agent who lives in Huntersville, said Mecklenburg County, for example, prohibits agents from showing occupied properties unlike the state restrictions.

Mecklenburg’s stay-at-home order will lift on Wednesday, loosening restrictions on some businesses and recreational activities that are allowed under Cooper’s executive order, county commissioners learned Tuesday. That gives increased flexibility to businesses including funeral homes, car dealerships, real estate agencies, vape shops and furniture stores.

Pratt-Nunley said she wants to apply pressure to state and county officials to be more transparent about the data that led to the restrictions. She favors following safety guidelines by the World Health Organization and other experts, but says it should be left to consumers to decide when they feel comfortable returning to public places.

For her part, Pratt-Nunley said she generally keeps her kids at home and wears a mask when she ventures to the grocery store. She attended last week’s Reopen NC protest in Raleigh but stayed on the sidewalk to keep a social distance. And she’ll stay in her vehicle at the Charlotte protest.

“We’re not saying money is more important than your life,” she said. “If businesses want to continue to close early (to disinfect stores), if those are the reasons they want to do that, everybody’s OK with that. And if (customers) want to stay home, that’s good as well.”

This story was originally published April 29, 2020 at 6:30 AM.