People are starting to get restless, and, as new cases of COVID-19 decline, people are getting more anxious to get back to their lives as they were before the pandemic. WEMU's Lisa Barry talks with Peter Jacobson, Professor Emeritus of Health Law and Policy at the University of Michigan, about his views of how we can begin to gather in small groups and the legal aspects of challenging the current stay at home order.
Peter Jacobson says quarantine fatigue is a new concept, as we have never had to deal with a pandemic like what we're going through right now in our lifetimes. He said as the number of cases go down, people are being more vocal in their beliefs that this cannot go on indefinitely.
Jacobson says he doesn’t know if anyone has a good sense of when would be the best time to reduce stay at home orders but said we need to start thinking about that. He said the biggest concern is preventing a severe second wave of the virus and that needs to be kept in mind and cannot be ignored.
He says, ultimately, he does not believe the final decision as to lifting the stay-at-home order will be decided in court but did acknowledge the need to consider economic and social harm of continuing to have people locked in place. Jacobson suggested that people may start to gather in small groups in the near future, if they are sure the people they are getting together with have not been exposed toCOVID-19.
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— Lisa Barry is the host of All Things Considered on WEMU. You can contact Lisa at 734.487.3363, on Twitter @LisaWEMU, or email her at lbarryma@emich.edu
