ER doctor: We need a five-week national quarantine

So what needs to happen to prevent these scenarios? Mass quarantines have been very effective when used against past pandemics. Nearly 30 states have issued some variation of stay-at-home orders, but unless this nation’s lawmakers can coordinate a national mass quarantine — for a minimum of five weeks — we will face an enemy that our system is unprepared to fight, and we will lose. Five weeks is needed to overcome the long incubation period of this virus which can range anywhere from three to 12 days.

At least half a dozen recent studies have shown that asymptomatic individuals may be contributing to this pandemic in a very significant way. Social distancing measures fail because we feel comfortable letting our guard down around asymptomatic individuals. As a result of this failure, we will risk the lives not just of the elderly, but of Americans of all ages that will no longer be able to receive emergency care for their acute illnesses. When you go to war, you can’t just hope that the enemy will behave in logical or predictable ways.