Repeal the Quarantine Power
Commentary
It was March 12, 2020, and I was sitting on a moving Amtrak train out of Manhattan and headed to the Hudson train stop. From what I experienced in New York City that day—people drinking themselves silly at noon and otherwise scurrying through the streets to get out because of the bad germ on the loose—I had a sudden concern. I thought that the train could be stopped and all passengers put in a bus and taken to a quarantine camp.
Crazy? Not so much. This is what happened on cruise ships two weeks earlier. The United States stopped them in the deep seas and sent helicopters to “rescue” Americans from the virus then spreading. They didn’t want to be rescued of course—they were on vacation and living it up—but the U.S. government thought differently. After that, these poor souls were quarantined for several weeks more while being tested and treated. It was brutal….