FAIRVIEW—More than a dozen people upset with Utah’s current COVID-19 regulations gathered outside governor-elect Spencer Cox’s family home this weekend with signs claiming the virus was a “fake pandemic,” but the Cox family response was to serve the protesters homemade cookies and hot chocolate.
The weather was cold and windy on Saturday when the small group of protesters first came together in the Fairview neighborhood to express their worries over current events. Instead of discouragement over the protest, the security detail at the governor-elect’s home welcomed them and Cox himself served the group cookies and hot chocolate that had been prepared inside his own home.
“Never dreamed I would have protesters at my home in Fairview,” Cox tweeted on Sunday. “But we don’t get many visitors, so if you make the long drive, the least we can do is make you cookies and hot chocolate. I’m glad I got a chance to tell them I love them even if we disagree on masks. #OneUtah.”
The small group that began accumulating around 2 p.m. on Saturday outside the Cox family home was made up of local residents and out-of-town visitors who disagree with the current approach to COVID-19 by the State of Utah.
The most outspoken local resident was Lana Gardner of Spring City, who didn’t hesitate to speak her concerns to the Messenger on Saturday.
“We have friends who came out of East Germany, and the father, who died a while ago, said we are slowly losing our rights because of the corruption of the officials,” Gardner told the Messenger. “The first thing they do is take away your guns, then they control the media. Then they start trying to control every aspect of your life and say that the government is going to take care of you, but the government doesn’t care a freakin’ thing about your welfare!”
In addition to Gardner, a Springville woman who drove from out-of-county to the protest was also quick to vocalize her discontent with the statewide COVID-19 situation.
“We’re seeing some things that are leaning towards what America is not,” said Suzanne Montague of Springville when asked why she was protesting. “There is lots of science that is telling us it’s the terrain, meaning your body, not the germ. If germ theory were true—that there are things that are trying to get inside us and kill us—we would all be dead by now. There is lots of science that is being censored on this and the numbers being skewed. We don’t feel that this is a pandemic. It’s the same thing as the common cold or the flu.”
Montague told the Messenger she thought the restrictions Utahns have been subject to are unjustifiable. She said her sister had a friend who died alone in a hospital from cancer and was unable to have visitors in her final hours due to rules set in place to mitigate the spread of the virus.
“Her family couldn’t even go see her,” Montague said. “That’s the kind of stuff I am talking about. It’s wicked. It’s evil.”
Montague claims the COVID-19 restrictions placed on Utahns for the sake of reducing the spread of the coronavirus do more damage than they are worth and that there will always be sick people in the world, with or without public health restrictions.
“Death is part of life, she said. “Sickness is part of life. The welfare of history is the alibi of tyrants,” Montague added. “We have seen this over and over again. They are using public safety as an excuse to take away our rights.”
Sunday saw the confirmation of 2,663 new COVID cases and eight new deaths statewide. Sanpete County has 693 total confirmed cases of COVID-19, 263 of which are currently active. Sanpete has had three confirmed COVID deaths and has three current hospitalizations.
