NC County Defies Governor's Stay-at-Home Order, Says All Businesses May Re-open Effective 5pm Today

Gaston County Republicans have a message for Governor Roy Cooper and the citizens of North Carolina -- your stay-at-home order is stupid and we're not going to follow it!

Gaston County has announced that despite the state's stay-at-home order that was recently extended until May 8, businesses within the county may re-open effective 5 pm tonight because, according to the News Observer, county officials believe that long term, staying at home “doesn’t fix anything.”

Union County has expressed their frustration as well with the governor's draconian one-size-fits-all approach.

“Every community is different; every business is different; every family is different,” Union County commissioners wrote in a letter to the governor. “The people of North Carolina will suffer needless health and economic harm if the State continues to treat its diverse population with a one-size-fits-all approach.”

Roy Cooper has been under fire for closing down the North Carolina economy and costing thousands of people their jobs, livelihoods, mental and emotional health, and possibly ultimately their lives without any actual science or evidence to suggest it was necessary to do so amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Cooper has been criticized for seemingly disallowing protests as the State Capitol Police dispersed and even arrested protestors for holding a constitutionally-protected gathering outside the State Capitol last week citing protesting a “non-essential” activity. Subsequently, Cooper responded to an intent to sue letter calling on him to clarify his executive order and guarantee that protestors would not be unlawfully arrested. Thankfully, he did so. However, his shutdown orders are still upsetting citizens of the state and people are growing restless waiting on the governor to re-open the state.

North Carolina has been one of the least affected states by the coronavirus with a total of 354 deaths statewide. Mandatory stay-at-home orders have largely been ineffective.