My example of the “Spanish” flu did not imply that the US did so back then.
It not happening back then does not imply governments wouldn’t do it now.
Well that’s just fundamentally wrong. The US Government is currently forcibly quarantining people. Note that the quarantine wasn’t mandated until somebody tried to leave…
5 Likes
As I stated above. Using a quarantine on those coming into the country by various means of travel is NOT the same as busting down a door to your home and dragging you out of it.
4 Likes
No, snot!
4 Likes
I hate to say this.
Imagine you had the opportunity to save 100 million people. All you had to do was kill 5,000 people.
Would you?
Imagine you had the opportunity to save 100 Million people. All you had to do was quarantine 100,000 people, knowing that you would wind up watching 10,000 of them die of the disease, and straight up murder 1,000 people who didn’t want to go to quarantine.
Would you?
Of course you would. How would you live with yourself if you didn’t?
That is what China is attempting to do. It sucks. It’s hard. It’s harsh and I can’t imagine being the one to make that call, particularly when the 100 million dead is hypothetical and the 6,000 dead are in front of you, begging for their lives.
But of all the bad calls China has made, this is the one that I agree with the most. They are doing the hard, right thing.
4 Likes
For information, the UK govt just triggered dormant powers to enforce quarantine if needed.
Screenshot below is from the Daily Heil so no link. I only use it because it was the quickest and most succinct summary of the development here…
2 Likes
Isolation and Quarantine
Isolation and quarantine help protect the public by preventing exposure to people who have or may have a contagious disease.
- Isolation separates sick people with a contagious disease from people who are not sick.
- Quarantine separates and restricts the movement of people who were exposed to a contagious disease to see if they become sick.
In addition to serving as medical functions, isolation and quarantine also are “police power” functions, derived from the right of the state to take action affecting individuals for the benefit of society.
Federal Law
The federal government derives its authority for isolation and quarantine from the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
Under section 361 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S. Code § 264), the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services is authorized to take measures to prevent the entry and spread of communicable diseases from foreign countries into the United States and between states.
The US government has police powers granted by the constitution to detain persons for quarantine in a way “as may be reasonably necessary” (United States Code §264)
1 Like
And once AGAIN I did not say it’s illegal. I said thinking that’s the best solution or a good idea is NOT a good idea.
i repeat that while antivaxxers are idiots who do threaten the health of others I am not going to advocate breaking down the doors to drag them from their homes.
You and everyone else in this thread can champion that all you like. Leave me the fuck out of it.
1 Like
This and all the other variations of the “Trolley Problem” are philosophical wanking. You save the 100 million people and also do your best to save the 5000 people. Reality doesn’t provide foregone conclusions.
15 Likes
You implied it is unconstitutional.
No one but you argued that. That’s your straw man. The topic was deadly infectious diseases. You introduced anti-vaxxers.
The thread is filled with “yeah, let’s defend China’s actions here…because yeah, it’s no big deal and for the best of everyone to break into someone’s home and drag them off in the name of ‘the greater good’.”
anti-vaxxers are not a straw man. They are an equivalence. They pose a danger to others health and safety. So…let’s rip them from their homes and quarantine them. Seems legit.
I’m out.
I’ve read quite a few disturbing, paranoid letters-to-the-editor that seem to suggest not a few of my countryfolks would like to see something similar over here. They are displaying deep rooted distrust against doctors and professionals and suggest rather than repatriating people and putting them into a hospital for quarantine, they should be left to rot in the desert. All in the name of “common sense” and “good judgement” of course.
14 Likes
There’s not really a specific treatment, so quarantined hospital facilities are largely for containment. Treatment is supportive, but unlikely to be curative.
1 Like
I am aware that there is no cure. Supportive treatment is still treatment and is better than none.
2 Likes
I understand it’s hoped it is from a public health perspective, but hospitalization may have no effect or even a negative effect, on survival. We don’t know what sort of hospital they’re being sent to. It may decrease quality of life in someone’s last days. If it turns out they don’t actually have coronavirus now, but just a cold, putting them in close quarters with coronavirus carriers may actually infect them. Or expose them to other nosocomial infections.
3 Likes
And how do you do your best to save the 5,000 people?
Well, it’s an illness, so putting them in a hospital and providing medical care is probably the best way of doing that… and that is what we are talking about doing, so I think that’s good.
You said “killing.” That is not the same thing as treating.
5 Likes
The great thing about the Doctor is that he knows which path is right.
And sometimes that path is… “I’m sorry. I’m so, so, sorry.”
