Washington State Gov: Those Who Don't Cooperate With 'Contact Tracers' Not Allowed To Leave Home

Washington gov: Those who don’t cooperate with ‘contact tracers’ and tests not allowed to leave home

Doug Mainwaring

Washington Governor Jay Inslee indicated that people who refuse to cooperate with contact tracers or refuse coronavirus testing won’t be allowed to leave their homes even to go to the grocery store or pharmacy.

“When it comes to contact tracing, how are you guys going to handle people or families who want to refuse to test or to self isolate? If they want to leave their home to get groceries I know you’ve said they can’t do that; how will you make sure they don’t?” a reporter asked him.

“We will have attached to the families a family support person who will check in with them to see what they need on a daily basis,” he responded. “If they can’t get a friend to do their grocery shopping, we will help get them groceries in some fashion. If they need pharmaceuticals to be picked up, we will make sure they get their pharmaceuticals… We are going to be there on a daily basis for them – now that’s going to help encourage them to maintain their isolation too.”

The Lynwood Times summarized Inslee’s remarks this way: “Therefore, those individuals that refuse to cooperate with contact tracers and/or refuse testing, those individuals will not be allowed to leave their homes to purchase basic necessities such as groceries and/or prescriptions. Those persons will need to make arrangements through friends, family, or a state provided ‘family support personnel.’”

Inslee announced that as the state begins to relax restrictions and open up its economy, health officials will focus on contact tracing and isolation of infected individuals with the help of over 1,300 newly trained “contact tracers” who will begin work this Friday, May 15.   

Critics were quick to point out disturbing aspects of the new effort in the Evergreen State. 

For those individuals that refuse to cooperate with contact tracers and/or refuse testing, will not be allowed to leave their homes to purchase basic necessities such as groceries and/or prescriptions.https://t.co/Mx30f0MwoQ

— Lynnwood Times (@LynnwoodTimes) May 13, 2020

“There’s no death penalty in Washington state for murder,” tweeted civil liberties lawyer Eric Rhein.  

“Now [Governor Inslee] is claiming authority to slowly starve you if you don’t conform,” added Rhein. “Without trial.”

There’s no death penalty in Washington state for murder. Now he’s claiming authority to slowly starve you if you don’t conform. Without trial.

— Eric Rhein (@RheinEsq) May 13, 2020

Scary stuff. so you will be under house arrest without due process. nothing illegal there.

— Nick Cultrara (@bflony66) May 13, 2020

‘Box in the virus’

“This initiative is robust, it is vigorous and it is comprehensive, and it needs to be all three to be all three of those to succeed,” said Inslee in a video conference.   

He noted that the initiative will be “on a much grander scale” than similar past initiatives which traced the relationships and personal interactions of individuals with infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and hepatitis. He did not mention HIV/AIDS.

“If we do not succeed in this second stage of our efforts, this virus could come right back out and bite us,” asserted Inslee.  

While social distancing was the primary tactic employed to slow the spread of the virus during the early days of the pandemic, Inslee said that as the state moves to open up the economy, “testing, contact tracing, and isolation of people who are infected,” will now the become major tools of government authorities. 

An army of government ‘tracers’ including the National Guard

The most ambitious component of the plan is the 1,371 army of people trained and tasked with “contact tracing,” who will be unleashed later this week. 

At the start, the 390 members of the Department of Licensing and the 630 State and local health professionals will be aided by 351 members of the National Guard. The Guardsmen will be phased out once more workers and volunteers are trained and able to replace them.   

Isolation and quarantine

“At the sign of any symptoms, people should confine themselves at home. Voluntary confinement for both ill persons and the members of their households will be a major challenge, but it is one of the most critical portions of this entire endeavor,” explained Inslee. 

“Individuals and their households will need to be confined for 14 days if they are exposed to the virus. We know this will present challenges for some families and we are looking at ways to address them,” he added.

For those who refuse to comply with the new guidelines, Inslee said they will face sanctions either in civil or criminal court. 

Inslee’s remarks came as other government measures around the country and the globe have come under fire for explicitly violating basic constitutional rights. 

Last month, U.S. Attorney General William Barr said that stay-at-home orders are “unprecedented burdens on civil liberties.” 

“The idea that you have to stay in your house is disturbingly close to house arrest,” said Barr. “It’s very onerous, as is shutting down your livelihood.”  

As if to prove the Attorney General’s point, last month it was revealed that Kentucky residents who refuse to quarantine themselves were being outfitted with ankle bracelets, identical to those criminals confined to house arrest must wear.




Newsom Continues to Bully the Church Despite President's Directive

David Martin 

In an attempt to continue state surveillance of churches because of COVID-19, Governor Newsom of California has all but ignored President Trump’s directive to allow churches to reopen without interference from the state.

At a press briefing on May 22, the president made it clear that governors and state officials were given until the weekend to lay off the churches by allowing them to reopen without restrictions and regulations. 

“I call upon governors to allow our churches and places of worship to open right now,” the president said. “If they don’t do it I will override the governors.”

The president said nothing about allowing continued restrictions but ardently defended religious groups that are demanding a full return of their religious practice in church. “The people are demanding to go to church and synagogue,” he said. “Many millions of Americans embrace worship as an essential part of life.”  

hile feigning compliance to Trump’s directive by merely allowing churches to crack their doors open, Governor Newsom,  in league with the California Department of Public Health,  issued a ruling on May 25 stating that churches “must therefore limit attendance to 25% of building capacity or a maximum of 100 attendees, whichever is lower.

So, the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles that accommodates 3,000 people must now limit attendance to 100 people, or a church that seats 100 people can only allow 25 people to come and worship. If this isn’t unveiled discrimination against religion, what is!

Here the liquor stores, supermarkets, and pizza parlors are brimming over with activity with virtually no restrictions imposed while the church is being oppressed and put in the doghouse because Newsom and state bureaucrats want to make fun of religion.

Moreover, the state’s new guidelines strongly recommend “discontinuing singing, group recitation (e.g. the Rosary after Mass), and other practices and performances” and that churches “modify practices such as limiting the number of people reciting or singing, ensuring physical distancing greater than six feet between people.”

The state furthermore advises “modifying practices that are specific to particular traditions” which include “discontinuing kissing of ritual objects [relics]” and “offering Communion in the hand instead of on the tongue.”

The state has no right making such recommendations or imposing juridical rules, as they are blasphemous and violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, i.e. Separation of Church and State, which prevents the state from interfering with the church. The governor’s ruling is loaded with regulation and constitutes a gross intrusion upon the church—something President Trump did not ask for.

The state ruling says that “This limitation will be in effect for the first 21-days of a county health department’s approval of religious services” after which “the California Department of Public Health, in consultation with county Departments of Public Health, will review and assess the impact of these imposed limits and provide further direction.”

This conceivably could mean that the state could tighten up on its surveillance of churches or even close churches if state officials deem that the first 21 days weren’t effective enough in stopping the spread of COVID-19.