If you’ve never read Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky now’s your chance. Confined to your home quarters, there is little entertainment other than eating, reading and jigsaw puzzles. There may be a few other options if you are imaginative. I’ll leave that up to you.
The most grievous part of my day is listening to the daily death report coming out of New York City. The problem is the nature of the beast; severe respiratory illness all requiring ventilation therapy at the same time. If this was occurring slowly, medical care wouldn’t be taxed to the breaking point. It isn’t the inability to care for someone needing life support, it’s the inability to care for so many at one time.
But while New York and several other large cities are being swamped with an apocalyptic surge of Covid-19 victims, much of the rest of the country remains on house arrest. Admittedly this is one of the options that actually makes sense but it is hard to conjure the same level of concern when your closest neighbor is over the hill and far away. The governors of several midwestern/western states have not subjected their residents to a stay-at-home order because social distancing is a way of life. The people of South Dakota already live in quarantine.
To my way of thinking, stay-at-home orders apply well to densely populated areas but have limited benefit in Wyoming or North Dakota. A drive in the country to watch wildlife or view the sunset is still social distancing. Allowing citizens some discretion in their actions is shifting the governance to the people. Large gatherings obviously put people at risk, a walk in the park, not so much. A private drive alone is hardly worthy of being labeled a criminal.
Penalties have been increasing for those guilty of failing to comply with social distancing recommendations. Fines in New York have been increased from $500 to $1000 per occurrence and there has been threats of jail time, up to six months. Ironically this contrasts government efforts to reduce the risk of Covid-19 transmission by releasing convicted individuals deemed to be low risk, in order to reduce crowded situations in jails and prisons where there is a high likelihood of close personal contact and viral transmission.
The irony on this is almost laughable if it wasn’t so serious. Prisoners (those already convicted of failure to comply with laws) are being released into the public but Granny is threatened with being fined, tasered and jailed if she drops off a pan of brownies at the neighbor’s house across the street.
In Pennsylvania a woman out for a scenic drive, (alone) was stopped by the state police and given a $200 fine for violation of a 1955 state statute for prevention of communicable disease and failure to comply with the Governor’s orders. She pleaded not guilty.
Michigan has a $1000 fine for failure to comply with social distancing guidelines.
Wisconsin’s stay at home order is punishable by a fine of $250 or 30 days in jail or both unless of course you are participating in essential activities. Ironically outdoor activity is considered essential activity as long as you are complying with appropriate social distancing guidelines. State parks and trails are open to the public and all park entrance fees are waived but no camping is allowed. Thankfully fishing is considered a safe and essential activity as long as you don’t have more than 10 people in the boat. But I already knew that.
Minnesota has closed all of their state parks and recreational areas and it shows. On any given day every other car on the highway going through our town has a Minnesota license. No compliance there.
In Hawaii if someone is caught for stealing your bicycle, a class B misdemeanor, it could be punishable by 30 days in jail and up to $1000 fine but if this occurs during the mandatory Stay-at-home orders this can be upgraded to a felony and could be punishable by a prison sentence up to 10 years! But this pales in comparison to the threat of punishment offered by the President of the Philippines.
President Duerte announced “enhanced community quarantine” for the island of Luzon.
On 1 April 2020, in a televised address President Duterte admonished those who may cause ‘trouble’ during the imposition of the community quarantine amid the COVID 19 pandemic. Referring to the political left, but also seemingly others who may protest or question government measures, he openly gave orders to the police, military and local officials to shoot them dead saying, “I will not hesitate. My orders are to the police and military, also the barangay, that if there is trouble or the situation arises that people fight and your lives are on the line, shoot them dead. Do you understand? Dead. Instead of causing trouble, I’ll send you to the grave.”
Tell him you’re from Wisconsin and you are going fishing. Maybe that will help.
The Covid-19 Police are Watching
Cold Turkey... Leftovers 