“Engage in allowable recreational activities.”
Such beneficence unto us, the lowly people of Washington, D.C. So offers our dear leader, once simply known as the mayor of Washington, D.C.
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We should all be deeply alarmed by the decision on Monday by the Washington, D.C., Virginia, and Maryland governments to issue stay-at-home orders enforceable by criminal law. Joining with other states issuing similar orders, the language and extreme mandates being employed by the three governing authorities closest to the nation’s capital are patently authoritarian.
And thus as un-American as blame-God-for-coronavirus is stupid.
Do not misunderstand me. The coronavirus pandemic is an urgent public health concern.
We know that the elderly (my 95-year-old grandfather lives in northern Virginia) and those with underlying health conditions (I’m one of them: I was born with a heart condition) are at greater risk. But we also know that we don’t have enough data to make good policy. The death rate is higher than that of the flu but not catastrophically so. The obvious challenge now is to ensure that medical facilities do not become overwhelmed by patients needing assistance, as in Italy. Which explains why it has been appropriate for governments to advise their citizens strongly to remain at home except for essential activities such as food and drink shopping and exercise. And to enforce bans on large gatherings. And, in the worst-hit areas such as New York, to use mandatory stay-at-home orders.
But governments should only be taking the most extreme actions based on exigent, data-driven circumstances. And only on a bi-weekly basis requiring legislative assent. The Virginia order was put in place until June 10 at Gov. Ralph Northam’s whim — well after most public health officials expect the caseload to have peaked.
But the stay-at-home orders bound to criminal sanction should not stand. This crisis is not World War II, nor the Black Death. And it cannot come at the expense of the most basic constitutional rights: the right to assemble peacefully and pursue happiness. The right of the people to go for a walk. And I’m sorry, language such as Washington, D.C.’s mayor-defined-recreation caveat and Virginia’s demand that those who “engage in outdoor activity” only do so in conformity “with strict social distancing requirements,” cross the line into authoritarianism.
American government has no place issuing these orders absent the most critical of crisis (such as a bioweapons attack that is highly resistant to treatment).
Yes, ban large groups. Yes, impose stiff penalties on those who wantonly endanger public health. Yes, mandate stay-at-home orders for those such as medical or nursing home staff who work alongside vulnerable peoples. But do not tell Americans they must stay at home or go to jail. Trust the rest of us to take precautions out of concern for our fellow citizens.
History will record government overreaction here very poorly.
