#Operation GridLock fizzles

Apr. 23--The protest didn't even stall traffic.

A protest dubbed "#Operation Gridlock" held in downtown Rochester on Thursday afternoon was meant to demonstrate popular opposition against Gov. Tim Walz's nearly monthlong shelter-in-place order to stem the spread of the coronavirus.

But as a barometer of widespread disaffection, it barely registered on the Richter scale -- at least not here in Rochester.

A half-dozen flag-snapping, horn-honking cars and trucks cruised around downtown Rochester on Thursday afternoon, but it was not the loud rebel yell that protesters hoped it would be.

The tiny turnout suggested the opposite, that people were willing to endure Walz's shelter-in-place a bit longer if it can be shown to save lives and keep the disease at bay.

Tom Blondell, a Rochester retiree who organized the protest through a Facebook post, admitted he was disappointed in the turnout, but resolved not to give up.

"We're kind of small potatoes down here," Blondell said, implicitly comparing the protest to the larger "Liberate Minnesota" action outside the governor's residence last week. "We're not stopping. We want our freedoms back. We're going to take them back."

Even though the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic early last month, Blondell disputed it it was a pandemic. He said he rejected public reports that more than 44,000 people in the U.S. have died from the respiratory disease.

"What is a pandemic?" Blondell said in his truck outside the city-county Government Center. "A pandemic is a really serious medical problem. This isn't anywhere near as bad as a regular flu."

The protesters' trucks were emblazoned with messages that declared, "Blue Lives Matter" and "Bikers for 45," indicating their support for President Donald Trump, whose own administration has issued guidelines for social distancing, but who has used his Twitter account to call for the "liberation" of Minnesota.

The mini-demonstration took place in the shadow of the Mayo Clinic, which announced Wednesday that it was furloughing or reducing the hours of 42% of its 70,000 employees across all of its campuses after announcing an anticipated $3 billion to $3.5 billion shortfall.

Diana Halsey, a Minneapolis resident, said she works as an essential worker in the grocery industry. She said it was time to relax the rules that require residents to stay at home if they aren't at work or going to the grocery store.

"It's time for people to get back to work," Halsey said. "The social distancing and sanitizing has been working great in the grocery industry. The virus is going to be here with us, and we need to learn how to live with it."

Walz said he wants to open businesses and let people go back to work, but only after public health experts assure him that social distancing restrictions can be lifted without exposing residents to more infections.

He also wants statewide testing for the disease in place to help track and contain the virus if breakouts should occur.

Thursday's event in Rochester comes six days after hundreds of protesters gathered outside the governor's residence demanding the reopening of the economy. Similar demonstrations against stay-at-home orders have occurred at state capitals in Michigan, North Carolina and Kentucky.

Daniel Dunphy, a St. Charles pastor, also expressed frustration with the Rochester turnout. He said he was particularly disappointed in the preachers of Rochester, who have allowed their churches to be closed, he said.

"I pastored for 30 years, and I've never shut my church down," said Dunphy, a Vietnam War veteran. "Nor would I this time. They would have carted me to jail before I would have shut more doors."

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