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Why a Federal Lockdown Won’t Work
Always playing the red vs. blue game, I’ve seen countless blue state friends posting this map from the Washington Post about compliance with “social distancing” orders, as tracked with cell phone data.
Outside of the disturbing privacy implications, this is exactly why a federal lockdown won’t work. For media observers on the East Coast, this is proof of their compliance with “social distancing” orders as opposed to those red-state idiots in the West and in the South. What it actually shows is the difference not in compliance, but in population density and a drastically different way of life.
In Wyoming, a supermarket isn’t around the corner like it is for those in New York or New Jersey.
What the gloating over this map also shows is the disconnect between those who consume the food made on American farms and ranches, and those who are actually working on them. Those going around the corner to their local Whole Foods on the Upper West Side to pick up some steak then return to their apartments to work from home. For a cattle rancher in Wyoming, the one responsible for that steak dinner on the Upper West Side, doesn’t have the luxury of working from home. But the fact that he’s not sitting inside his house doesn’t mean he’s recklessly exposing all of Wyoming. While that Whole Foods patron lives mere feet from his neighbor, the cattle rancher lives miles away from anyone outside of his immediate family. Traveling ten miles away in Wyoming exposes far fewer people than it does in the New York metro area. Traveling ten miles away is necessary in Wyoming; not so much in New York.
Which is why a one-sized fits all lockdown won’t work. The way of life in Wyoming is different than it is in New York, and they have no . Those on the East Coast who are used to shaping public opinion and policy prove with this map, and their gloating, why they cannot be trusted to set nation-wide policy.
Published in General
I have no idea what you’re talking about because I don’t understand what that map is supposed to be saying.
Additionally, whoever made that map has chosen colors (I presume) that about 12% of the male population can’t read. I can see the typical colors that I get tripped up on, so I’m only guessing here.
Also, your concluding paragraph has a sentence that is truncated and appears to be missing a vital point you wanted to make.
People in low density areas already practice a kind of social distancing. But even they should avoid crowds. You might live 6 miles from your closest neighbor, but if you go out and hug them at a crowded church you’ve gained little. Rural areas have fewer hospitals and it is likely that those might be stripped of resource to send to cities hit earlier and harder. But an outbreak in such a community might come later but will be no less deadly.
Yea, it’s a bit of a problem when there is no legend to tell us what the colors stand for. But if your point, Bethany, is that leftists are arrogant, dismissive, jerks. Well, I agree.
I don’t know. There seems to be quite a few low-density/farming states in there that are being relatively compliant. But again, it’s hard to read without a key to the map colors.
This is a fascinating experiment in federalism in extremis. I hope we continue allowing states to tailor their responses, with a big material assist in technology, information, and emergency resources from the federal government. The $2T money dump doesn’t excite me, but I figure that kind of thing comes with a crisis. We had a debt disaster already; now it’s just bigger.
I’ve been visiting local parks and woodlands. That means I walk for miles each day without ever touching anything and rarely passing within a few steps of anyone else. One can be out and about without risking anyone’s health.
The stay-at-home order for Harris County (Houston) actually mentions parks as an acceptable outing. We need people healthy with strong immune systems. That requires some exercise and sunshine.
They will always find a reason to go into more debt. We are doomed.
The Big Nowhere has it’s limitations. The Arizona 1st Congressional District, my former District covers 58,608 square miles. If it was a State it would be 25th largest State in the United States. It covers more square miles than the State of New York. There are those that believe living in the bright lights of the City of New York, DC, LA, San Francisco, or Chicago makes them smarter than everyone else. If that is the case than chicks in an incubator are geniuses.
The map is from a WaPo article, which links this site. It uses “reduction in distance traveled” as a proxy for “social distancing.”
I thought that “social distancing” was more about: (1) staying 6′ away from each other, and (2) not meeting in groups of 10 or more. This measure does not capture these activities.
The grading scale is A-F:
The map has already changed enormously since the WaPo article. The A’s are now (west to east): CA, NV, CO, TX, LA, MN, IL, MI, OH, PA, NY, MD, NJ, CT, RI, MA, VT, NH.
Most other states have shifted, though WY, MT, and ID remain unchanged.
You may not be able to confirm this yourself, as the map is interactive, so it may change again by the time that you check.
There is no key on the map, so it is incomprehensible.
It would be nice if some graphically competent sort were to scale the map colors based on the population density of each state. But then that would probably not demonstrate the effect the Post is trying to achieve….
I can’t imagine anyone picking colors more deviously designed to baffle 12% of men with color vision deficiency.
That is because the lights blind them to anything outside their immediate vicinity.
The Tucson City Council, reliably leftist, is trying to get the Governor to order a state “lockdown,” so we all have to stay home. Government employees are almost all Democrats and are having a nice paid vacation. We got Mexican food from our local Mexican restaurant Saturday. I suggested they might use their wait staff to deliver. Get them some income, at least.
For those whose eyes glazed over or who practice social distancing via tl;dr Jerry’s point is simple.
To paraphrase – The map doesn’t report accurate social distancing.
“There are those that believe living in the bright lights of the City of New York, DC, LA, San Francisco, or Chicago makes them smarter than everyone else. If that is the case than chicks in an incubator are geniuses.”
@dougwatt, may I “steal” those two sentences? They would add greatly to my cleverness in email messaging.
Of course, I stole it myself.
Assuming that the virus mostly passes though personal contact, I would think that precautions such as lockdowns, would be dependent upon population density. And perhaps no precautions are necessary below a certain population density.
The thing is, the population density varies wildly.
Here’s a map of population density, by county:
Are some states or local municipalities ordering people to turn on their cell phone location services for tracking? Talk about Big Brother . . .
Stad, location services needn’t be enabled for cell phone tracking to be performed. The cell network has to have some awareness of where any given phone is located in order to route calls effectively, and that awareness is acquired when the phones contact the local towers, which they do automatically regardless of location service settings.
And yet every day I can manually update my phone’s PRL and note a significant improvement of reception. Granted, I think Sprint is in the process of updating their towers for 5G now.
As I noted in yesterday’s interesting Ricochet conference call, my son-in-law in is complaining rather often about the state’s “work from home” order. He lives in a small town in otherwise rural New Mexico. Going to his office involves walking 15 feet out of his house to get in his private car, driving 2 miles to the small building with his office, and working by himself in a private office. This going about presents a very different risk pattern from that encountered by the guy who lives in an apartment building in Manhattan, takes an elevator perhaps with other people to ground floor, walks on crowded sidewalks to a crowded subway station, gets on a crowded subway car, and walks on more crowded sidewalks to a high density office building.
Last summer they would have had a hard time tracking me in Arizona. We hit a small rock driving in the Copper Canyon area. Went to call the AAA. Guess what ? No service, even if I walked a mile down the road. Somebody nice finally came along. He turned out to be a guy who repossesses cars and he was driving his pickup with towing gear. They towed us 15 miles to a gas station.
I’ve been to the grocery store twice in the last 4 days… I think. Things are running together. According to cell phone data, I haven’t left my house.
@bethanymandel, you are correct about those in NYC and DC not having a clue. My cousin, who lives in rural south side VA, reminds me all the time how he can go weeks without going through a stoplight. They practice “social distancing” everyday. Seeing as how NYC numbers currently rival Italy’s, I don’t think they need to be calling out the rural folk.
ankle bracelets are the way to go because if someone who should stay home decides to leave the reservation, the ankle can beep and other people can see and hear the ankle bracelet and report the offender
There are some places in this country where you have to be sure to keep food and especially water in your car.
My daughter often refuses to wear warm clothes in Austin’s winter. I try to explain to her that she should take a coat, just in case the car breaks down. Thirteen year old girls think nothing bad enough could ever happen to inconvenience them.