In these times, the sight of a public gathering of hundreds of people mostly without face masks is alarming. But that is what happened at a demonstration against the shutdown measures in Washington State. "We believe that the state governor has gone beyond his constitutional authority in shutting down businesses and ordering people to stay at home," organiser Tyler Miller says from the grounds of the state capitol. In mid-March, Washington Governor Jay Inslee announced an emergency proclamation mirroring many issued around the world; closing restaurants and bars and banning large gatherings. But protesters say that was unconstitutional. "The state constitution says that the right of the people to peaceably assemble shall never be abridged. We believe that the (emergency coronavirus) proclamations that the governor here ordered violate that," Mr Miller says. Mr Miller said he was not protesting against the recommendations from the public health bodies and respected the need to 'flatten the curve'. "I even self-quarantined for 14 days back at the very beginning of this myself, when I had an illness that mirrored some of the symptoms," he says. "The fact I am protesting does not mean I think it is a good idea to have gatherings, I just believe that the government has no authority to prohibit them." Throughout the crisis, Mr Miller has also been able to continue his work as an engineering technician with the US Navy. He says the thing that has angered him is what he feels is an un-American overreach of power by the Democratic governor. The restrictions differ from state to state, and about 20 states have had protests against the measures. These demonstrations vary in size from a few dozen people to thousands. They come as the US finds itself still very much in the grip of this crisis. There has not yet been a sustained drop in the numbers of US deaths linked to Covid-19 and yet the clamour to lift restrictions is coming not just from those taking to the streets but from politicians too. "The hysteria that surrounded the coronavirus from the beginning was disproportionate," says Rick Becker, of North Dakota. "There was an overreaction by state governments with regard to mandatory shut downs, shelter in place, and so forth," he says. When it is put to the state representative that tens of thousands of people have died across the country and that it could have been many more if restrictions were not in place, he dismisses the notion. "That is something that you're going to be able to say no matter what; that there may have been more deaths," says Mr Becker, who is also a qualified doctor. "You're taking the 'if it saves just one life' argument, and I would say that if I would drive 20mph instead of 50mph, it's possible that I might not kill somebody, and you can look at all aspects of our lives that way. But our whole way of life in this country would collapse and we can't live life that way."