Masked Medics Face Off Against Anti-Lockdown Protestors Refusing to Self-Quarantine in Colorado

Illustration - Kevin Winter/Getty Images

A series of photos have gone viral after two masked health care workers blocked traffic in Denver, Colorado, confronting lockdown protesters amid the pandemic, which has shown signs of slowing.

Demonstrators gathered in front of the Colorado State Capitol building to protest the state’s stay-at-home measures during a “ReOpen Colorado” rally on April 19, 2020. Some protesters wore masks; many did not.

Adults brandishing hand-drawn signs with various slogans implored the government to loosen lockdown restrictions. The group’s collective stance was that the impact of the lockdown upon the economy and civil liberties is becoming worse than the virus itself.

The largely non-violent protest was met with silent opposition, however, from two health care workers—who wished to remain anonymous—wearing hospital scrubs and N95 masks. The medics attempted to obstruct traffic at a crosswalk in front of the capitol building, blocking protesting motorists from entering a green light.

In footage shared by The Telegraph, one female protester leans out of the window of her pickup truck and yells at the health care workers, “You go to work, why can’t I go to work? Go to China if you want Communism!”

In photos taken by Colorado-based photographer Alyson McClaran, pedestrians approach the masked medics, and angry drivers gesticulate their objections to the limits placed upon their work and freedom of movement.

“Yesterday I decided to go out and document the protest,” McClaran, a former staff photographer for Colorado’s Greeley Tribune, told Time. “I wasn’t on assignment for anyone.”

“I saw two nurses in the middle of the street,” the photographer continued. “I took off running towards them and started firing away my camera, because they were blocking the road at a green light and everyone was screaming and honking at them.”

McClaran admitted that she didn’t feel safe among the crowds but had the instinctual sense that she was documenting history. “I had tears in my eyes half the day because I was in shock at how many people were out,” McClaran explained, “and how much anger there was ... I had to protect myself by leaving.”

Several members of the anti-lockdown group explained their motivations for taking part in the protest rally. “If you don’t want to go out, if you’re still worried, stay at home. I think you should have the option,” protester Scott Johnson told CBS4. “A lot of these small business owners are getting crushed.”

“The needs of those at risk are being weighed so much more heavily than those people that are out here losing their income, losing their jobs,” added small business owner Alan Weldon.

Demonstrators gather in front of the Colorado State Capitol building during a "ReOpen Colorado" rally in Denver, Colorado, on April 19, 2020. JASON CONNOLLY/AFP via Getty Images

A Pew Research poll has discovered that most Americans are worried about lockdown measures being lifted too soon. However, anti-lockdown protesters are lobbying for a change to the criteria; most want quarantine measures for vulnerable citizens only, mandatory mask-wearing, enforced temperature-reading protocol, and more widespread testing for the virus.

“Coloradans have a first amendment right to protest and to free speech,” Colorado governor Jared Polis’s office said in a statement to The Denver Channel.

“No one wants to reopen Colorado businesses and lift these restrictions more than the Governor,” the statement continued, “but in order to do that, Coloradans have to stay home as much as possible during this critical period, wear masks, and wash their hands regularly to slow the spread of this deadly virus.”

Demonstrators brandish hand-drawn signs in front of the Colorado State Capitol building in Denver on April 19, 2020. JASON CONNOLLY/AFP via Getty Images

Photographer Alyson McClaran simply hopes that people can sideline their fears and objections and come together in mutual support.

“The nurses, these frontline workers were out there saying, ‘Hey, we’re here for you. We’re trying to help,’” McClaran told The Mercury News. “And for [protesters] to be disrespecting them, it was a crazy thing to witness.”

Colorado’s lockdown restrictions are due to be revised on May 1, 2020.