ReOpen NC leader says she tested positive for COVID-19

RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) – A leader of the ReOpen NC group revealed in a Facebook post that she tested positive for COVID-19.

Audrey Whitlock posted to the ReOpen NC Facebook page early Sunday saying her two-week quarantine was ending. She described herself as an “an asymptomatic COVID19 positive patient.”

Whitlock is one of the administrators of the ReOpen NC Facebook page – which has helped organize two protests in downtown Raleigh calling for Gov. Roy Cooper to lift his stay-at-home order.

In Whitlock’s post, she wrote about how the restrictions put in place amid the COVID-19 pandemic are violating her First Amendment rights as well as her 5th and 14th Amendment rights.

She said she was “forced” to quarantine which violated her First Amendment rights.

“The reality is that modern society has not been able to eradicate contagious viruses. A typical public health quarantine would occur in a medical facility. 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 freedom of religion,” Whitlock wrote.

She went on to say that “It has been insinuated by others that if I go out, I could be arrested for denying a quarantine order.”

She says an arrest in that situation would violate the Americans with Disabilities Act.

ReOpen NC said it would hold rallies in Raleigh every Tuesday until the governor’s restrictions are lifted. On Thursday, Cooper extended the stay-at-home order until May 8.

A total of 306 deaths in the state are being blamed on the virus, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.