New York City is putting a new plan in place to combat the Coronavirus. Mayor Bill de Blasio has implemented quarantine checkpoints at all the major entryways into the city to comply with the state's mandatory 14 day quarantine order. One of the doctors overseeing the contact tracing program in NYC, Dr. Ted Long, says that 20% of the all new cases in the city are from visitors coming from outside the state. With that being said local police and authorities will be set up at these major entryways to question visitors about their plans and have them register with authorities.
What are the penalties if you break quarantine or fail to follow any requirements? Here is a breakdown:
- Failure to fill out a special travel form: $2,000 fine
- First violation for breaking quarantine: $2,000 fine
- Second violation for breaking quarantine: $5,000 fine
- Third violation for breaking quarantine: $10,000 fine
Furthermore, in Los Angeles, Mayor Eric Garcetti, has authorized the local Department of Power and Water to shut off utility service for those who do not follow the state's guidelines and are in violation of public safety orders that are in place. This mainly applies to those who are having large parties with large social gatherings.
Can you see where each of these mayors are coming from or do you think it's an overstretch? I'll tell you my thoughts and I can't believe I'm about to say this but I can *gulp* see where Mayor Bill de Blasio is coming from with these checkpoints. If people are not going to comply with the orders already in place and there is a continuing uptick in COVID cases then what else can local officials do? They have to do something to get people to start following the rules and do their part. The mayor is responsible to have the public's best interest at heart and that includes their health. This might be a hot take by me but they tried the social guidelines of social distancing, warning people not to travel, and implementing the mask policy but clearly that's not enough. If people are not following the rules and putting others at risk, it is in the mayor's interest to protect the city at hand. Now, I wish it did not resort to these checkpoints but what are you going to do? I don't have a good solution for how else to tackle this issue in NYC so I can't blame Mayor de Blasio.
Now, in the case of L.A., I think that is an overstretch. It's a bit totalitarian to shut down someone's person utilities because you are not happy with them not following the rules. This is a private property or a private business. It's one thing for the NYC Mayor to put checkpoints into a public city and monitor the travelers but it's another to start targeting individual residents. Maybe fine them rather than shut off the utilities, although I understand money is not an object for most of these people in Beverly Hills and it most likely won't change anything. To me it just seems like a total breach of personal rights on something these people personally pay for. If they were gathering in a public place then yeah you'd have more of a case but these people have to make their own choices regarding what they will do with their personal time and if they want to expose themselves to potentially getting COVID, that's up to them. The local officials gave them all the info and cautioned them but it's their choice to make. I understand these individuals will go back out into society and possibly infect others but with that, in public they still need to follow guidelines and social distance or wear a mask and that can limit the spread and that's why those guidelines are in place. If these people want to catch COVID that's their prerogative and to be honest punishment enough without the shutdown of utilities. Plus, do you think shutting off the power and water will really stop large gatherings from happening, I don't think so. These rich people will rent a port-a-potty and get LED battery powered lights or have a glow in the dark party so this crackdown by the mayor is not going to have any impact. Just my thoughts.
-Producer Lightning