{UAH} RIOTS ARE GOING TO BE THE END OF LOCKDOWNS

Riots are going to be the end of lockdowns

by Washington Examiner

June 01, 2020 12:00 AM

Federal, state, and local officials urged the public for months to stay indoors to slow the spread of the coronavirus. But now that densely packed mobs have plunged major cities into mayhem, it’s going to be much harder to enforce lockdowns or social distancing.

Initially, political leaders said shutdowns were temporary expedients to ensure that infections were spread out over a longer period of time so that when there was a peak, the case count was low enough that it wouldn't overwhelm hospitals and trigger a collapse of the medical system. Once that goal was achieved, however, leaders remained illogically reluctant to reopen the economy and transitioned from talking about hospital capacity to a supposed need to stay shut down until people felt safe.

The number of new coronavirus cases peaked in April and have been declining for the past month, even as states started easing restrictions and as testing has ramped up.

Nonetheless, scolds have spent the last few weeks on social media lashing out at those gathering on beaches, in parks, and by pools. They have tried to shame people who don’t wear masks even in the wide-open outdoors, where science has shown the risk of transmission is vanishingly low.

But mass riots in cities make such restrictions untenable. As a side note, it is worth considering whether the pent-up frustrations of being shut down and confined contributed to the scale and savagery of recent riots. Legitimate as protests are over the appalling death of George Floyd, one wonders if shutdowns made today's violence worse by suppressing activity and human urges unnaturally for so long.

But the riots have certainly demolished the logic of staying shut down. In New York City, to appear tough on the lockdowns, Mayor Bill de Blasio singled out the “Jewish community” for gathering outside for a funeral and had the police break up a session of 60 people at a Yeshiva school in Brooklyn. He has resisted calls to open pools and has closed beaches to swimmers.

But he has allowed riots, featuring thousands of people in close proximity, clashing violently with police, with only scattered use of masks. How, then, does he justify cutting off outlets New Yorkers use to beat the summer heat after months of being cooped up indoors?

As the public watches similar scenes play out in dozens of cities, why should it comply with bans on church gatherings? What is the justification, in the face of this lawlessness, to keep summer camps, schools, and day care centers closed?

The surviving lockdown orders will be made even more difficult to maintain if the mass rioting does not lead to a spike in coronavirus cases a few weeks from now.

Previous warnings of looming outbreaks have not proved prescient. When Wisconsin held an election on April 7, we were told it would lead to a big spike in cases. It didn't happen. As states such as Florida and Georgia reopened, there were widespread warnings of a second wave of infections. But experts were instead baffled as these warnings never came to fruition.

Densely populated cities have been the hardest hit by the virus. If this mix of largely peaceful demonstrations and violent riots does not cause a spike in new cases, it will weigh heavily in the scales against the conventional wisdom favoring sustained shutdowns.

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On the 49^th Parallel          

                 Thé Mulindwas Communication Group
"With Yoweri Museveni, Ssabassajja and Dr. Kiiza Besigye, Uganda is in anarchy"
                    Kuungana Mulindwa Mawasiliano Kikundi
"Pamoja na Yoweri Museveni, Ssabassajja na Dk. Kiiza Besigye, Uganda ni katika machafuko"