
Bay Area Counties announcing a “virtual lockdown” - mattnewton
https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/03/16/coronavirus-six-bay-area-counties-to-shelter-in-place/
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conroy
Dupe of
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22596539](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22596539)

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Animats
Wow. We've gone to full lockdown from no restrictions except on large events
48 hours ago.

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wespiser_2018
It's not "full lockdown", there is one step greater, if I understand
correctly. "Full lockdown" requires you to have explicit permission to leave
your home, right now you can leave your home to meet basic needs, take a walk,
get exercise, et cetera

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strbean
The far end of the spectrum is martial law.

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colechristensen
It's pretty important to emphasize that there is no legal or constitutional
framework (of which I am aware) for backing this with lawful force. These are
suggestions, probably good ones, but not enforceable ones.

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not2b
No, you're wrong. States have power to enforce public health quarantines and
courts have backed them up.

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colechristensen
For individuals, small targeted groups, absolutely. Not for entire
metropolitan areas.

I fear this is being used as another step towards an overpowering executive
authority.

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davidw
Everyone should do this. Now.

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jMyles
On the basis of what research? Some experts are suggesting against these kinds
of measures.

And this is a serious encroachment on fundamental rights, for a virus whose
worst-case scenario is a number of deaths similar to the number of people who
die from smoking every year.

This policy seems extreme and uninformed to me.

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not2b
Where do you get the idea that the worst case scenario is similar to the
number of deaths from smoking? If half the US population gets the virus and 1%
die, that' 1.5 million deaths. But if half the population gets the virus all
at almost the same time, hospitals run out of ventilators, and maybe it will
be 5% deaths. That's 7.5 million deaths.

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jMyles
I appreciate that we're all doing our own thinking and napkin math here, but
the people who crunch these numbers all the time are talking about worst-case
estimations much, much lower than that.

Here are a bunch of solid papers on the topic:
[http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/infectious-disease-
topics/covid-19...](http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/infectious-disease-
topics/covid-19#bibliography&1-4)

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mlindner
This is ridiculous and completely overblown. WFH home is plenty along with
simply avoiding crowded spaces. They better not do something stupid like close
the airports I need to visit family beginning in April.

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sdesol
Are you saying this because you have inside knowledge or because this affects
you on a personal level? You also sprinkled in "simply avoiding crowded
spaces", but you don't suggest a way to encourage/enforce this.

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jMyles
Are any well-informed researchers recommending this level of lockdown? At
least some experts, including CIDRAP, are opposed to closing schools, let
alone locking people down. Is anyone seriously considering and commenting on
the damage this policy will do to vulnerable populations?

This seemingly solid paper[0], published in the Journal of Medical Virology,
shows Vitamin D to be an important intervention. And obviously fresh air and
sun are generally important for health and well-being.

These steps seem authoritarian and wrong-headed.

0:
[https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/jmv.25707](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/jmv.25707)

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nawgszy
There is no limitations on personal exercise like going out for walks except
that you should try and remain 6ft+ from others. I don't think suggesting
people be isolated from close contact with others during a global pandemic is
authoritarian and wrong-headed. It seems to me like the benefits of fresh air
might be lesser than the lung damage of covid19 after all.

~~~
jMyles
> It seems to me like the benefits of fresh air might be lesser than the lung
> damage of covid19 after all.

Sure, sure. But we don't know at the moment what the impact is of keeping
people largely indoors except that is is generally less healthy.

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aguyfromnb
Has Tesla closed down Fremont yet?

Nope, still pumping out propaganda that they're "ahead of schedule" and want
employees to work on their days off to deliver cars:

[https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/16/tesla-model-y-deliveries-
beg...](https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/16/tesla-model-y-deliveries-begin-
meeting-expectations-on-the-crossover.html)

They are tweeting about beginning deliveries _today_.

