As this Global pandemic continues and many states enter their sixth week of stay-at-home. Many are asking the question of “when to start lifting the stay at home orders”. Many noted professionals have put forward a plan to eliminate the virus by essentially shutting down the planet. That too for three months no business, minimal movement, and minimal interaction with people. While from a medical standpoint this is a viable solution from the economic point of view, it is complete disaster in the works.
Number vs lock down :
The numbers of the total confirmed cases (2,736,875) vs the combined total of serious cases and deceased (244,444). This clearly show that even with all the tragic deaths and people still in critical condition. These makes up less than a fourth of the total number of confirmed cases. In many instances it appears that the majority of individuals exposed disease experience no symptoms or very mild ones. On top of the statistics show the majority of the cases are located in large cities with densely packed populations. Such as New York City, New Orleans, and Seattle to name a few.
The further away from these areas, in some cases just to the suburbs, the less extreme the pandemic becomes. Some counties and rural towns report no cases whatsoever. Why then with the numbers clearly showing a reduction in certain areas are some governors so reluctant to remove blanket order. Instead adopt a more targeted response.
Leaving aside the issue that many medical professionals have contradictory viewpoints on the subject and possible ulterior motives. The clear take away from these numbers is that it should be possible for many states to lift whatever order. They have in place and begin getting back to normal before the pandemic.
Using Washington state as an example, many of the counties east of the Cascades have only a few confirmed cases of the coronavirus. Such as Lewis or Walla Walla, and no new cases have reported. There’s no longer any reason for them to remain isolated, preventing their residents from provide shelter for themselves and families. The counties closer to the primary infected areas could have stayed-at-home order lifted and replaced with a strict social distancing order.
An example for restaurants would be:
All customers must make reservations, they’re not allowed to remain beyond a certain amount of time. There’s a strict limit of how many people can be in the restaurant at a time. And how close one party can sit next to another.
The same principle could even be applied to the three counties most heavily affected in Washington state. If there are concerns over the possibility of the disease spreading out of the highly affected countries to the low affected ones. Even after the stay-at-home order is lifted, a travel ban could be instituted. This travel ban would prevent residents from one county traveling to another for any reason. Except for the purposes of a critical industries.
Many of the citizens of these states have begun to aggressively request that the stay at home orders be lifted. By no means have they demanded that everything go back to normal but they want to be able to work. They also have been following the numbers and clearly see that in many states the virus spread his slow to the point where it is possible, with the proper safeguards in place, to reopen.
With all data that clearly shows that this pandemic is manageable if not outright contained why are certain political figures ignoring their people they are sworn to serve and set them back on the path to the normal life before COVID-19?