Ohio Quarantine Protesters Photo

Submission 32,743

Part of a series on COVID-19 Pandemic. [View Related Entries]

For up-to-date information regarding COVID-19 coronavirus, including prevention and treatment, please visit CDC.gov.

About

Ohio Quarantine Protesters Photo refers to a photograph of a group of Ohio protesters outside the Statehouse Atrium in April 2020 demonstrating to re-open non-essential businesses in the state. The photo, which was taken by Joshua A. Bickel for Dispatch, was widely mocked an compared to a photo of zombies on Twitter.

Origin

On April 14th, 2020, Dispatch^[1] published the article "GOP lawmakers, protesters call on DeWine to begin re-opening Ohio" featuring a photo by Joshua A. Bickel captioned, "Protesters stand outside the Statehouse Atrium where reporters listen during state officials' coronavirus update Monday. About 100 demonstrators assembled outside the building, upset that the state remains under a stay-at-home order and that non-essential businesses remain closed" (shown below).

Spread

On April 15th, 2020, Twitter user @futurecanon^[5] shared the photo saying, "Will be forever haunted by this image of protestors in Ohio demanding the governor open businesses back up" (shown below, left). The tweet garnered over 144,600 likes and 26,100 retweets in two days. That same day, Twitter user @sssssparkers^[6] compared the photo to a Shaun of the Dead poster (shown below, right). The tweet gained over 22,600 likes and 3,500 retweets in two days.

That day, actor and comedian Patton Oswalt^[7] retweeted the photo with the caption, "BRAINS!!!" (shown below). The tweet received over 33,700 likes and 3,800 retweets in two days. Snopes^[2] published an article confirming that the people in the photo are indeed protesters in Ohio. Fast Company^[4] published an article covering reactions to the photo and Slate^[3] published an interview with the photographer.