Mayor Muriel Bowser is threatening residents of Washington, DC, with 90 days in jail and a $5,000 fine if they leave their homes during the coronavirus outbreak.
“Our message remains the same: stay home,” Bowser, a Democrat, said in a statement Monday. The stay-home order has exceptions for grocery shopping and work deemed essential. Outdoor recreation such as running is allowed, but cannot involve people outside of a household.
The order is similar to dictates in neighboring Maryland and Virginia, but shocked residents of Washington, where there are just 401 of the nation’s 160,000 confirmed cases.
“This is insane. Criminal penalties?” tweeted Mercedes Schlapp, President Trump’s former White House director of strategic communications and an adviser to his re-election campaign.
Monica Hopkins, executive director of the ACLU of the District of Columbia, told The Post “we would be deeply concerned” if anyone actually was arrested for violating the order.
……DC’s Metropolitan Police Department did not immediately provide answers to The Post about enforcement, including whether residents would be issued warnings for a first offense. The city has a 6,500-person homeless population.
Are they going to arrest them?
Trump said at a Monday evening press conference at the White House that federal officials are allowing local autonomy.
“We’re letting the governors do in their state pretty much what they want, with our supervision, and they consult with us in all cases,” Trump said.
What if they turn into jackboots and declare martial law?????
Give them an inch . . .