It is an interesting constitutional issue. Freedom of Religion, Right to Assemble...which, apparently in a situation of National Emergency can be suspended for public safety interests.
I have an interesting theory on this virus, what if there are asymptomatic people in society who are always going to carry the virus and infect others? A modern equivalent of "Typhoid Mary". What if we found one? What would society do with a person like that?
Mary Mallon - Wikipedia
It's Estimated 1 in 4 Coronavirus Carriers Could Be Asymptomatic. Here's What We Know
Yes - of course! Until there's a vaccine and even then there will be anti-vaxxers who get it.
What do you mean "what would a society do with people like that"?
We do nothing about the measles epidemics that have occurred in the past few years (in the US and elsewhere) because people have the right not to be vaccinated.
And "Society" is never going to agree on what to do. Even if laws are passed against anti-vaxxers, there is no way to enforce it and religion is a defense against having to comply. In the US, we'd have to amend the Constitution - and that ain't gonna happen.
Until everyone is vaccinated, CV-19 is out there; it's not going to go away. The fact that there are
so many asymptomatic carriers just makes it that much harder.
This is why some of us oldsters are considering getting it now, when we still have a fighting chance. Heck, I read discussions among 50-somethings in my friend group every day, debating this. I'm trying to wait for the vaccine. Or at least a known and tested treatment. Anyone 40 and over should be thinking about these things seriously.
The fact that my future retirement life expectancy and lifestyle has been radically altered in so many ways is just another enduring aspect of this disease.
And it may not be the last of its type. The planet is warming, and bacterial infections do well in that environment, such as typhoid. Some viruses (dengue) also like warmth and is already pandemic in the tropics - soon, much more of the planet will be tropical (warmer and more humid).
It doesn't have to be a virus to be dangerous and most viruses seem not to like warmth (verdict is out on CV19 - it has been a winter virus so far, but very dangerous even in some warmer places - perhaps not as dangerous as in colder places, though).
Bacteria OTOH tend to thrive in warmth as do some dangerous parasites (like malaria, once completely eradicated in the US, but now popping up (though rare) in Texas.
Mosquito-transmitted malaria acquired in Texas. - PubMed - NCBI
Like West Nile virus, anything that causes more mosquitoes increases risk for malaria. Mosquitoes like warm and humid.
When people get sick, good societies treat them, employing resources to do so. When people get sick through their own stupidity, though, it's possible even a good society might get a little bent out of shape. Hard to say. People do stuff that's stupid all the time and get themselves sick or into accidents, we don't usually put them in prison for that.
