Anti-Quarantine Protest Leader Tested Positive Of COVID-19

• The leader of the ReOpen NC (North Carolina) movement who previously organized a protest has tested positive of coronavirus.
• Audrey Whitlock announced in the ReOpen NC Facebook page that she is an “asymptomatic COVID-19 positive patient.”
• Despite that, Whitlock still complained that putting her on self-quarantine “violated her civil rights”.

One of the organizers of the ReOpen NC (North Carolina) group Audrey Whitlock admitted to her fellow protesters that she was tested positive of the dreaded coronavirus. Whitlock, who opposes Governor Roy Cooper’s stay-at-home order, described herself in a Facebook post that has since been deleted as an “asymptomatic COVID-19 positive patient”, confirming that she had the virus and her self-quarantine period at home just ended.

Whitlock and her group have been protesting against the county’s quarantine measures and demanding Cooper to lift the lockdown so all businesses in North Carolina can resume.

“As an asymptomatic COVID-19 positive patient (quarantine ends 4/26)…another concern I have is the treatment of COVID patients as it relates to other communicable diseases. I have been forced to quarantine in my home for 2 weeks,” Whitlock wrote in a post on the ReOpen NC Facebook page.

Charlotte news radio station WFAE later reported that Whitlock said she heeded the directives of her county health department and remained in isolation at her home. She also stressed that she did not attend the last two protests of ReOpen NC, but assured that she will attend the upcoming events since she is now COVID-19 free.

The ReOpen NC Facebook page has 60,000 members who are demanding Cooper to reopen all businesses immediately. However, the latter instead extended the county’s lockdown to May 8, 2020.

#ReopenNC protesters are gathered for a demonstration near the legislative building in #Raleigh. This as lawmakers prepare to meet. #ABC11 pic.twitter.com/9eAAGqTCVs

— Gloria Rodriguez (@GloriaABC11) April 28, 2020

During her self-quarantine, Whitlock’s members gathered at the Legislative Building in Raleigh, N.C., majority of whom did not wear any protective masks and defied the county’s social distancing ordinance.

In her post on a private Facebook group, Whitlock said that Cooper’s self-quarantine ordinance “violated her civil right”.

“I have been told not to participate in public or private accommodations as requested by the government, and therefore denied my 1st amendment right of religion,” she said.

According to the Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention, however, violating a state or federal quarantine measure is considered as a criminal offense.

Whitlock questioned the said rules and pointed out that it is a clear discrimination by “employers, places of public accommodation, and state and local government entities.”

Whitlock also described how she got the virus. In early January, she and her husband traveled “separately” to the west coast. Her house members fell ill in February as they had severe coughs and breathing troubles. One of her children visited a doctor and was told that it was a mild flu case.

When the government started conducting antibody testing at the selected laboratory, Whitlock had her blood tested out of curiosity and confirmed that what she had in February was coronavirus.

“The test came back positive for COVID and negative for the antibodies, so I had a CDC test performed,” she said.

Whitlock added that the Mecklenburg County’s health ministry never called nor conducted a contact tracing after she tested positive. Citing her first hand experience, she pointed out that Cooper’s claim of coronavirus testing and contact tracing “did not exist”.

So far, North Carolina has reported 9,142 confirmed cases of coronavirus and a death toll of 306.