On Saturday, a crowd of protesters gathered in front of the State House demanding that Gov. Chris Sununu rescind his emergency orders shutting down much of New Hampshire business – orders he issued to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. The protesters ignored posted signs warning not to gather in groups of more than 10 people, wore few masks, and carried signs proclaiming their devotion to liberty and the alleged injustice of the governor’s stay-at-home order.

The protest was a direct and deliberate violation of the governor’s emergency orders and clearly threatened the health and lives of the people at the demonstration – including children – and anyone who might later come into contact with those same people. And yet, Gov. Sununu did nothing. He allowed this threat to the public welfare and the public health to go unchallenged. In so doing, he put our communities, our health care workers and our state at increased risk from COVID-19. He also cast great doubt on his commitment to enforcing the very orders that he says are necessary to prevent an escalating crisis in New Hampshire.

Many people are suffering now. Many have been sickened by the coronavirus or have died; families mourn their loved ones. Essential workers courageously show up for work, knowing that every day they face the very real risk of becoming infected with the virus. Thousands are out of work, jobs have disappeared, businesses are threatened or have closed. People are rightfully scared and looking for a return to normalcy. We must recognize these real and very urgent needs and make every effort to provide assistance and meaningful support. This emergency calls for no less.

We must also be ever mindful of government overreach and threats against our civil liberties. We will be among the first to condemn any unnecessary constraint placed upon our constitutional guarantees, including the right to seek redress and to protest government actions. However, here it must be noted that the protesters made a choice to demonstrate in the manner they did. They could have demonstrated only in their cars. They could have all worn masks to mitigate the spreading of disease, or tried in good faith to socially distance. They could have taken to social media or written letters. Instead, they chose to put not only their own lives but those of their fellow community members at risk of great personal harm.

We are living through something extraordinary. In just over seven weeks, this virus has killed more than 46,000 people in the United States alone, and it is still powering through the state, the country and the world. The only reason it hasn’t killed more people in America is because of the shared sacrifice of all of us in observing governors’ orders to socially distance. And, of course, we all have the heroic efforts of health care and other essential workers to thank for courageously leading us forward.

We were heartened when Gov. Sununu joined other states in the region and across the nation in issuing a targeted stay-at-home order. We stand behind Gov. Sununu’s orders to temporarily limit activity to essential actions only. We recognize that we all must do what is both necessary and difficult to protect the people of New Hampshire. But we also understand that it is not enough simply to issue these orders. When people flagrantly violate these orders and thereby endanger the health and lives of others, the governor needs to enforce them.

The demonstrators on Saturday were not making choices that will affect only themselves. Though they signify only a tiny minority of the population – numerous polls show overwhelming support for maintaining social distance and non-essential business closures until the pandemic can be curtailed – these protesters will go back to their families, and then they will mingle with other people in various aspects of their lives. If any of them fall ill in a few weeks, as some of them most likely will, they then will also put New Hampshire’s dedicated health care workers at risk. None of the people endangered by these protesters will have had any choice in the matter.

Saturday’s demonstrators were acting in a manner that will unflatten the curve so many have worked hard to flatten; they were doing the opposite of what the governor has asked us all to do. Gov. Sununu’s inaction in the face of their defiance makes a mockery of the sacrifice made by the rest of us – those who are working from home, those who are risking their lives as essential workers, those who have lost their jobs, those who haven’t left their homes for five weeks, who haven’t been with families or friends, who have canceled weddings and been unable to attend funerals, who are trying to help their children learn at home and who will be missing graduations, those who are suffering financially, and those whose medical conditions lead them to live in daily fear of exposure and infection.

For all of these people, we must ask: Why didn’t the governor act? Why didn’t he try to enforce the very rules that he says are necessary to protect the public health?

Good leadership is hard, and requires empathy and actions carefully tailored to meet the moment. Great leadership requires following through on those actions, especially in a time of crisis.

So, Governor, what kind of leader are you? If you will not enforce the orders you issued to ensure our health and safety, why would anyone comply with them? You must ensure that people take these orders seriously, or their effects will be lessened, the quarantine prolonged, and the efforts of the rest of us disrespected and cheapened.

And the sacrifice that you ask of all of us is too great and too important to let that happen.

(Rep. Gary Woods is a doctor and lives in Concord. Gale Toale Taylor lives in Concord.)