Please don’t take this too seriously, it is sort of a devils advocate argument I have been having with myself.
What if it is not just ignorance. It is clear that some of the protesters are mistaken or ignorant but maybe not all of them.
If we ignore medical advice now, we will have to close down again later. And again. And again.
Are you sure about that. If we don’t shutdown or if we open up now and don’t ever shutdown, no matter how bad it gets, the disease will run its course and enough people left alive will have herd immunity to end the pandemic. Understand, I prefer we stay the course and wait for a vaccine but you don’t address that other option. Do you have access to science that shows the eventual outcome of the option you and I prefer is superior to the alternative. Yes, medical professionals advocate for the option we prefer but I have seen analysis that indicates that the damage from shutdown is bad enough that the shutdown will make the eventually social impacts worse than if we stayed open. Yes hospitals and ICU’s would be overwhelmed and more at risk people will die but 90% of patients put on ventilators die anyway. You need to count the costs of the increase in the Federal Deficit. The cost of the loss of revenue to state and local budgets, this could lead to cut in programs that will help people live longer and better. Lay-offs kill people.
I am sticking with social distancing and working from home but I think that if people want to open their businesses, go to work and go to movies and restaurants, it is their right under the law and it the long long run might, I say might (there is not enough data to know) might turn out to produce a better outcome.
If we flatten the curve does the area under the curve (total cases/deaths) get smaller. Not looking for some anecdote or speculation. Is there any hard data? One thing we know, if you flatten the curve the pandemic lasts longer, that is the point of flattening the curve is to stretch out the pandemic to lower the workload on emergency services.
The Law. It would take a long time to work through the courts but I think in the end it would be found that the orders for social distancing and quarantine are illegal.
The First Amendment of the Bill of Rights provides that “Congress shall make no law … abridging … the right of the people peaceably to assemble.” This provision applies to state government entities through the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Though neither the federal Constitution nor any state constitution specifically protects rights of association, the United States Supreme Court and other courts have extended assembly rights to include rights of association.
Since Congress can’t pass laws that restrict the right to assemble and the President can’t create laws. If people want to assemble who has the power to stop them? If states want to shutdown business that have valid licenses to operate then new laws would need to be passed not just orders from governors or mayors.
Make no mistake, governors and mayors are using authority not legally theirs and in the process picking winners and losers. When a governor orders a nail salon to close, exactly what legal basis stands behind that order? Did the salon violate the terms of its license? If its practice was determined to not be in compliances with health codes, was the salon notified of the violation and given the opportunity to correct the violation. I think we are looking at an infringement of due process.
The definitions of essential have been arbitrary and capricious. They would not stand up to proper legal scrutiny.
It is a shame that the population could not be counted on to take proper precautions on a voluntary basis but legally the orders amount to just suggestions and punishments' for violating those orders is illegal.
The rights of the minority are protected by law.
the lives of many come before the liberty and happiness of a few.
This is actually not the case. The law says that everyone’s liberty is inviolate. If you can’t prove that I have the virus you have no grounds to restrict my movement or associations.
Please don’t take this too seriously, it is sort of a devils advocate argument I have been having with myself.
TEK
