Easter Worshippers Defy Kentucky's Coronavirus Lockdown

Nice try, call christ AT HOME!

Source: James Porter / Getty

As Kentucky officials try to thwart the spread of coronavirus, local authorities decided to take desperate measures on Easter Sunday. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear has been insisting that state residents obey his stay at home order and called out church leaders in particular for planning to hold Easter service.

The Governor warned members of the clergy and their parishioners that local police were told to record their license plates if they caught them going to church.

“We’re having to take a new action, and I hoped that we wouldn’t, and it’s that any individual that’s going to participate in a mass gathering of any type that we know about this weekend we’re going to record license plates and provide it to local health departments,” Beshear said during a press conference. “Local health departments are going to come to your door with an order for you to be quarantined for 14 days.”

Still, that didn’t stop some devotees from going out for Easter service and testing their luck. The Courier-Journal reports that 50 Maryville Baptist Church attendees attended service and in their parking lot, two Kentucky State troopers placed quarantine notices on parishioners’ cars and wrote down their license numbers.

Not only that, but The Courier-Journal also documented nails, screws and carpenter tacks scattered throughout parking spots of the Maryville Baptist Church parking lot on Easter morning. It’s unclear who left the nails for the insistent worshippers—-but we have a few guesses.

The church’s Pastor was one of several attendees who covered up their license plate so authorities couldn’t record it. Police reportedly took down VIN numbers instead.

To date, 97 people in Kentucky have died and more than 1,800 people have been infected with COVID-19.

What do YOU think about Kentucky taking desperate measures to stop large gatherings (like church services) amid the coronavirus crisis?