I disagree with the OP. That being said, logic is logic. (Obviously when there is insufficient action more action may be called for, and just the opposite when there is ‘too much’.)
At the worst extremes we have people throwing up their hands and saying, “well we’re screwed, white people will never do what they’re told, unlike those obedient Asians — and it’s not like we can make them, right?”. That attitude is completely crazy. It’s not true, and it’s part of the general atmosphere of extremely mixed messages that have made the crisis so bad.
“Oh no,” say the pessimists,” there is nothing to be done, we are all going to die.” A pathetic excuse for inaction.
1. Tell people what they need to do. If you can do nothing else, then do what you can.
People who are tested or presumed positive will obey quarantine if they understand that they might go to prison if they don’t. This is in no way an extreme or authoritarian response. It’s completely consistent with civil liberties. Any individual freedom is always constrained by reasonable expectations of harm. None of us have a general-purpose freedom to act however we want regardless of the risks to other people. The specifics of the coronavirus pandemic are unusual, but the general principle isn’t.
Is giving people money to quarantine a violation of civil liberties?
2. Whatever you think of a given plan, there are both ‘positive’ and ‘negative’ incentives.
Take the most extreme case: someone has tested positive and been instructed to self-isolate, but the person ignores the instruction and infects someone else, who later dies of the infection. This is an act of extreme and callous negligence. The person who left quarantine was informed of a specific risk, they ignored that information, and they have caused someone else’s death for a frivolous purpose. It is not unreasonable to imprison that person for many years in order to deter that sort of negligence.
Assuming causality is easily established… (Outside of a hypothetical, things can get way more complicated, especially preventative measures.)
3. Why should the sentence occur, after the fact? If someone is infected and therefore they are a danger to others (until X amount of time has passed), then there exists, if anything a ‘natural’ sentence—until they can’t infect others. (Sanitation, etc. at the end of quarantine may help with keeping that sentence short.) But if we don’t want them in prison, hospital, or a special quarantine facility, all that is needed is much lighter version of house arrest. The arguments for prison are flimsy by comparison—are the risks to others increased or decreased as a result of such a sentence? In the case of quarantine, it seems as though a more solid proof could not be asked for, by comparison.
(What crime is punishable by such a short sentence?)
Our society is built on both individual freedom and individual responsibility.
A powerful statement. Perhaps there is some disagreement about what that means, and today we are seeing the price of a lack of clarity.
I disagree with the OP. That being said, logic is logic. (Obviously when there is insufficient action more action may be called for, and just the opposite when there is ‘too much’.)
“Oh no,” say the pessimists,” there is nothing to be done, we are all going to die.” A pathetic excuse for inaction.
1. Tell people what they need to do. If you can do nothing else, then do what you can.
Is giving people money to quarantine a violation of civil liberties?
2. Whatever you think of a given plan, there are both ‘positive’ and ‘negative’ incentives.
Assuming causality is easily established… (Outside of a hypothetical, things can get way more complicated, especially preventative measures.)
3. Why should the sentence occur, after the fact? If someone is infected and therefore they are a danger to others (until X amount of time has passed), then there exists, if anything a ‘natural’ sentence—until they can’t infect others. (Sanitation, etc. at the end of quarantine may help with keeping that sentence short.) But if we don’t want them in prison, hospital, or a special quarantine facility, all that is needed is much lighter version of house arrest. The arguments for prison are flimsy by comparison—are the risks to others increased or decreased as a result of such a sentence? In the case of quarantine, it seems as though a more solid proof could not be asked for, by comparison.
(What crime is punishable by such a short sentence?)
A powerful statement. Perhaps there is some disagreement about what that means, and today we are seeing the price of a lack of clarity.