He traveled to a red zone. Stupid is as stupid does. He wasn’t just picked up off the streets for interrogation. NO comparison to China.
let’s not forget, the first three flights to the US from Wuhan and the evacuees from the Princess cruise were treated exactly the same way - no visitors, no liberty, recreation and fresh air breaks, tested every day for two weeks (or more in a few cases).
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Comparison to China is apt. They simply remove your rights and force you to be detained in a Covid hotel against your will, with guards on ever floor, lift and 20-30 guards in the lobby to make sure you don’t leave and oh, you have to pay for this ‘treatment.’
If that wasn’t bad enough, they just made up rules saying he can’t talk to others outside the fence. Yes, they are going to report him for speaking. Like China, they just make up rules and force you to submit. Wonder how long they’ll detain him for speaking?
China would have arrested anyone attempting to go to a red zone. Much less try to sneak back. And they would have disappeared them for months minimum.
The traveler of the story has not been disappeared. He knew the restrictions, he made his choice to travel, KNOWING that he would have to mandatory quarantine on return. He didn’t have to come back now did he? Nobody twisted his arm.
Even Harry had to quarantine when he returned to England for his granddad’s funeral, and he’s a royal.(or was)
As to talking to someone outside the gate - the delta variant is said to be more ‘sticky’, more contageous in outside environs than the original Wuhan version (R=2-3 vs R=6+), so if he was talking to someone outside the fence without keeping personal distance, he was potentially endangering the driver. I think delta is now 1 in 5 new English cases and responsible for breakthrough cases, so they’re paranoid of it.
But aside from the hysterics, it probably boils down to, if we let this guy have visitors across the fence, we have to let everyone, so we let noone.