The New York Times recently published a shelter in place coverage map. The map offers some interesting insights. Most notably, the Southeastern states are largely taking a local edict approach as is Texas. We will take a closer look at what each of these states are doing in lieu of statewide SIP to combat the virus. The plight of Louisiana is of particular interest as it is in the top 10 based on confirmed cases and is becoming a hotspot yet surrounding states are not practicing statewide approaches.
Tulsa's last day for shelter in place is supposed to be the 16th of April, but we will see if they end up extending it.
I have been (I guess you can say) absent from the new for the last couple of week. But reading on the quantity of how many states have declared a shelter in place is interesting. I was in El Salvador when the first case of COVID-19 appeared in Dallas. As soon as that hit the news, DBU decided to extended spring break and also switch to online classes. When I got home, self-isolation was encouraged but people were still out and about. I wish that Texas, the DFW, and Tarrant County would've acted faster in declaring shelter in place. I think that would've isolated the virus and decreased exposure to it.
The map at this point mostly makes sense. A few states that have not issued SIP order include Arkansas, Wyoming, Iowa, and North and South Dakota. All of these states are sparsely populated and lack large urban areas. My parents currently live in Arkansas, and, though it has not issued a SIP order, the state has taken many other steps to fight COVID-19 such as limiting the size of gathering and closing of non-essential businesses. These measures alone, without SIP, have kept the number of cases low. Even population centres such a Little Rock and Fayetteville are more spread out than places like Dallas, so an SIP order would be an excessive measure to stop COVID-19 in these states.
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Through this whole SIP situation, it is interesting to see how each county is dealing with it. I remember when Dallas County decided to shelter in place, most people assumed that Tarrant County would announce the same decision the next day. However, they did not. It was not until one or two days later that Tarrant County decided to shelter in place. This is interesting to see because for the metroplex to really "flatten the curve" it would require as many people as possible sheltering in place. However, when each county makes different rules, I think the effectiveness of this SIP goes down. It would be better to have certain counties, specifically the four major counties (Collin, Dallas, Denton, and…
I believe that quarantining and/or issuing a SIP order is better to do county to county rather than statewide, especially in Texas where there are a lot of rural areas that have not been affected by COVID-19. It would seem to be unfair to them to quarantine when they have no risk of getting the disease. However, I also see where the government is coming from, it would make it that much safer if everyone was under a SIP edict.