AKRON, Ohio — Akronites are reacting to the city’s recent decision to limit the size of private gatherings in homes, while making masks mandatory for small private gatherings, for 30 days to curb the spread of coronavirus. 

While some Akron residents say they believe the ordinance passed on Nov. 16 is in the community’s best interests, others are taking more extreme measures, such as donning a pink gorilla suit and picketing the mayor’s house.

The temporary “Private Gathering Ordinance,” is being enforced by Summit County Public Health with backup from the Akron Police Department, with offenders facing civil fines up to $250.

Seven Ohio counties – Summit, Cuyahoga, Franklin Hamilton, Montgomery, Lucas and Mahoning – issued “Stay at Home” health advisories in the past week, as they break records for new cases and for hospitalizations that were set at the beginning of the pandemic. Summit County hospitals are reporting what they say is dangerously reduced staffing as workers contract the virus.

Ben Growdon wore the fuzzy pink suit outside Mayor Dan Horrigan’s house last week to protest the city’s use of police to enforce the ordinance, which limits the number of guests who don’t live in the home to six people.

“They're taking the cops off the streets where they need to be because we know that shootings and murders are on the rise in the city,” he said. “They're taking them off the streets and having them do this instead, which is not a good use of their resources, time, money, energy and puts them in danger.”

Growdon was born and raised in Akron but says he moved outside the city limits to keep his children safe as crime rates rise.

“This crime explosion has just been so widely ignored. It's disturbing,” he said.

In response to the ordinance, Growdon and fellow activist Larry Don Seeley launched the group “Akronites for Freedom,” a private Facebook group with 446 members.

“Over my lifetime, I've seen a lot of things going on in the city,” said Seeley, who has lived in Akron for nearly 50 years. “This was this was one of those things that I felt that I needed to stand up for.”

The men say the ordinance is a violation of civil liberties and they believe others feel the same way.

“I really strongly feel that there's a lot more that are fed up with it and not complying with it,” Seeley said. “But they are just afraid to stand up for fear.”

Seeley is troubled that the city has disabled the “comments” feature on meetings since City Council moved its meetings to YouTube.

“We have emailed, we have called and left voicemails, we have written letters, and we get nowhere, nothing,” he said. “No answers.”

Council President Margo Sommerville said she answers every resident who calls or emails – if they leave their name and contact info, she said. Most residents who have commented on the ordinance leave “hate mail” and do not leave contact info, she said.

“This isn't about politics. This isn't about constitutional rights right here,” she said. “It's really about, you know, making sure our hospital systems are not overburdened, helping our frontline workers, our health care workers at this moment in time.”

With new cases of the virus averaging 7,000 per day, CEOs of Akron’s three large hospital systems urged Akron City Council to curb the spread by limiting family gathering sizes. 

“I think as elected officials, we have a responsibility to listen to our health care systems and our workers,” Sommerville said. “We're talking about our hospital systems and health care workers who have been working the front lines since March. And they're asking for some relief.”

A true violation of civil liberties would result if hospitals have to resort to “rationing care,” she said, which the CEOs have said is a possibility.  

“If, in fact, our hospital systems become overburdened, and they have to ration care and select who gets care, who do you think is going to be most impacted by that?” Sommerville said. “Poor people. That's right, African-American people.”

Kenmore resident Tina Boyes said she agrees with the advice “keep your bubble small.” With two young children at home, she and her husband, Ryan, haven’t eaten a meal outside their home since July.

“This ordinance doesn’t change anything for us,” she said, and the pandemic has placed the city in unprecedented waters.

“Do I think council can legislate wise behavior? Probably not,” she said. “I feel my rights are intact.”

Akronite Monique Hayes is a natural health worker, with a background in public health. She says she is unconvinced hospitals’ ICU capacity is high because of the virus and she questions how they are classifying COVID-19 cases.

“A lot of doctors’ offices are not seeing people in person so they're forced to go to the hospital right now,” she said. “They're forced to if they want to be seen in person.”

“Fear mongering” isn’t helping people stay well, she said.  

“People who are in a state of fear or who are surrounded by negative messaging are more likely to get sick and or die from something than someone who is hopeful or having positive messaging,” she said.  

Hayes, like Growdon and Seeley, says city government is overstepping its boundaries by restricting the number of guests people can have in their homes.

“There's a point where we have to give people their own power to make decisions,” she said. “And then just keep what's best for the total economy from a government perspective, and I think it's gotten too involved with people's personal lives.”

Sierjie Lash is the public information officer for the Akron Fire Department.

On the job, Lash and her colleagues interact regularly with people who test positive for COVID-19. But she says she is torn because she has a large family she enjoys gathering with.

“We’re in the middle of a pandemic, something our generation has not seen,” Lash said. “What we can do to slow the spread, drop the curve, we need to utilize those resources. We need to do what we can do to save our families and ourselves. But that’s hard. That’s very difficult to do in light of all the activities that we have.”