Even as almost the whole world is under lockdown to arrest the spread of the highly contagious Coronavirus outbreak, hundreds of people in cities across the United States (US) protested on Saturday, against the lockdown, with encouragement from President Donald Trump, as resentment grows against the crippling economic cost of confinement.

Around 400 including several armed men wearing military-style uniforms, with their faces covered, gathered under a cold rain in Concord, New Hampshire, many on foot while others remained in their cars,  to send a message that extended quarantines were not necessary in a state with relatively few confirmed cases of COVID-19.

More than 250 people in Texas rallied outside the  Capitol in Austin, including far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, founder of the Infowars site, who rolled up in a tank-like truck.

“It’s time to reopen Texas, it’s time to let people work, it’s time for them to let voluntary interaction and good sense rule the day, not government force,” said Justin Greiss, an activist with Young Americans for Liberty.

One of the protester, a stay-at-home mother Amira Abuzeid said, “I’m not a doctor but I’m an intelligent person who can do math and it looks like at the end of the day, these numbers are not that worrisome.”

The  social distancing recommendations went for a toss during the protests.

Demonstrators outside Maryland’s colonial-era statehouse in Annapolis stayed in their cars but waved signs with messages like “Poverty kills too.”

News agency AFP quoted, Dolores, a hairdresser as saying that she is not eligible for unemployment because she is a business owner, not an employee. “I need to save my business. I need to work to live. Otherwise I will die,” she said.

These protesters have drawn encouragement in certain Democratic party led states encouraged by some tweets by President Trump, who has said he favors a quick return to normal — though protests have also taken place in Republican-led states like New Hampshire and Texas.

In Concord, demonstrators carried signs with slogans like “The numbers lie” and “Reopen New Hampshire.”

Their common demand was that the stay-at-home order for the state of 1.3 million people be called off before its scheduled May 4 end date.

Others, amid a sea of American flags, chanted the state’s Revolutionary War-era slogan, “Live Free or Die.”

“People are very happy on a voluntary basis to do what’s necessary,” one demonstrator, 63-year-old Skip Murphy, told AFP by phone.

He added, however, that “the data does not support the egregious lockdown we are having in New Hampshire.”

As of early Friday, New Hampshire had reported 1,287 confirmed coronavirus cases and 37 deaths.

‘Free country’

“All over the country, a lot of people are saying, ‘We will do our part, but at the same time this is supposed to be a free country,'” Murphy said.

“When that gets transgressed, people start to say, ‘Wait a minute, this is wrong.'”

Most Americans — by a two-to-one margin — actually worry about virus restrictions being lifted too soon, not too late, a recent Pew survey found.

But demonstrators found encouragement Friday from the president, who in a series of tweets called to “LIBERATE” Michigan, Minnesota and Virginia — all states with Democratic governors — from stay-at-home orders.

Trump has repeatedly called for the earliest possible return to normality as virus-related closings have had a crushing impact on American workers and businesses.

But public health officials warn that too quick an easing of restrictions could allow a disastrous resurgence of the virus.

The largest protest against stay-at-home rules so far took place Wednesday in the Michigan capital of Lansing, which drew some 3,000 people.

Murphy said he had voted for Trump, but insisted his motives were not partisan. New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu is a Republican, he noted.

“This has nothing to do with Trump or the Democrat and Republican governors,” Murphy said.

“It is a case of one size not fitting all, the lockdown should cease where it does not make sense.”

The US has been the worst hit by coronavirus outbreak in the world with highest number of cases -718,000 confirmed infections and 37,700 fatalities so far.

The vast majority of Americans are under lockdown orders restricting public movement and keeping all but essential businesses closed.