by Chap Petersen

Exactly five years ago, March 23, 2020, Virginia’s Governor issued “Executive Order 53” which shut down the state economy in order to “flatten the curve” of COVID19 infections. It would continue in force until June 30, 2021, or over fifteen months.

Under strict legal penalty, schools were closed, small businesses shuttered and churches locked up. Citizens were not allowed to assemble, either for political, religious or merely social reasons. It was a mass deprivation of civil rights, without any dissent from the self-proclaimed guardians of “civil liberties.”

Five years later, there is not a shred of evidence that these unconstitutional actions saved a single life. Indeed, Executive Order 53, like most shutdown orders, very likely caused thousands of unnecessary deaths as Virginians stopped visiting their doctors, stopped checking in on relatives and radically increased their use of illegal narcotics.

Today it is quietly acknowledged that the COVID shutdowns were an embarrassment; a reaction driven by public fear and hysteria. Sadly, the usual guardians of executive abuse -– the media and judiciary –- failed to intervene. I know that for a fact, as I personally filed lawsuits to undo these disastrous actions while lives and businesses could be saved.

My legal actions were based on two indisputable principles: one, the Governor could not suspend the rule of law through “emergency power” while the legislature was in session (which it was throughout 2020); and, two, the Virginia Code required strict scientific evidence before confining one person for a “quarantine,” yet no proof was given to shut in eight million people, including one million children.

The establishment scoffed, as shutdowns were deemed too “popular” to curtail. My suits were turned aside and the lockdowns continued.

Today, the effects cannot be disputed. In Fairfax County, the average student lost 17 months of in-person education. Test scores plummeted, especially amongst minority students, and never recovered. The phrase “learning loss” entered the lexicon of American education. Meanwhile, thousands of small businesses were lost due to wrong-headed policies.

Yet the proponents of the shutdowns have faced no retribution. Politicians in deep-blue districts that voted to keep schools closed received a free pass, or were elevated to higher office. No judges lost their seats. No medical licenses were revoked. It’s like it never happened.

Virginians are a forgiving people. We have to be. But there can be no forgiveness without repentance. At some point, there must be an admission that the shutdowns were not just medically unnecessary, they were morally wrong. And they harmed our most vulnerable: children, elderly, small businesses. It’s easy to apologize for something that happened generations ago. Let’s see if our current leaders can finally admit it was wrong and seek forgiveness from those that were harmed

Chap Petersen practices law in Fairfax County. This column has been republished with permission from his email account The Virginia Attorney.