During the COVID-19 pandemic, local governments and the U.S. federal government went to great lengths to restrict the movement of citizens and regularly violated their constitutional rights.
As we pull out of the mass censorship of the past three years, more of this illegal and egregious behavior is being exposed.
When churches were shuttered in California in violation of the First Amendment, government bureaucrats used local law enforcement resources to spy on worshippers. They were punished with fines, threats of jail time and harassed each time they visited the church to pray with fellow Christians. From reporter David Zweig:
Long famous as the core of Silicon Valley, Santa Clara County, California, also earned the distinction in the last three years as perhaps the most aggressive and punitive enforcer of pandemic restrictions in the country. On March 16, 2020, Santa Clara, along with a half-dozen other Bay Area counties, was the first in the nation to announce a shelter in place order, commanding all citizens to remain at home other than for specific activities that the county deemed essential, such as food shopping or medical care.
San Jose’s Calvary Chapel, led by its pastor, Mike McClure, brazenly defied these orders. On May 24, 2020, McClure stated publicly that he would reopen the church the following week, regardless of the health department’s orders, and that he would never close the church again. After two months of isolation, many congregants were teetering toward despair.
On August 23, enforcement officers from the county’s Business Compliance Unit began regular surveillance of the church. On the first visit they entered the premises, observed the congregants, and then left to write up a Notice of Violation for masking, gathering, singing, and distancing violations. When the officers returned shortly after to deliver the Notice they were denied entry and told to get off the property. From then forward, each Sunday the enforcement officers were locked out of Calvary. But this did not stop them.
Govt officials conducted a multi-faceted surveillance program–including stakeouts and tracking cellular mobility data–to spy on churchgoers who broke Covid rules
— David Zweig (@davidzweig) March 5, 2023
An extraordinary story with wide-ranging implications
Read my explosive investigative reporthttps://t.co/bD9l2TSG81
Dr. Vinay Prasad, a top physician and leading critic of the government's COVID-19 response, is outraged over the tactics and called them "f*cked up."
No matter what you think-- and I do think large gatherings were unwise at this time-- local governments using cellular tracking data to enforce public health edicts on religious worshipers is catastrophically fucked up
— Vinay Prasad MD MPH (@VPrasadMDMPH) March 6, 2023
Public health is not the police state
This is wrong https://t.co/tNgT67EKc3