If your see that your neighbor has more than 6 people at Thanksgiving dinner, call the police. Is this part of a George Orwell novel or a Twilight Zone episode. Hope you all enjoy your Thanksgiving.

Sounds like NY.
I don't know anyone in Law Enforcement that would enforce that.

I dunno. I have seen some McMansions where seven people could rattle around for a week and never bump into each other.

How do any of you eager beaver reporters know what is happening in places you might not be able to see clearly? How can you be certain of health, safety, and distancing measures (or lack thereof) that are beyond your line of sight? As neighbors, if you can see all that, you are... well...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/24/2020 01:22PM by Shop-et-al.

I have not busted my COVID rule-breaking neighbors yet.

I have complained about youths not wearing masks at my local Target, however. They were immediately forced to wear one by an employee.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/24/2020 04:50AM by shoptastic.

What's really the difference between reporting an assault, reporting a drunk driver, and reporting too many people at a gathering? All three are equally illegal and all three are endangering (presumed) innocent lives!

In my mind the only difference is that the offence of illegal gatherings is new to us so it feels strange to consider it reportable. A comparable situation might be the way about 50 years ago many people didn't think of drunk driving as a 'real' crime.

It might be time for tptb to consider mad power trips as a previously unidentified mental symptom of covid.

If you are referring to reporting offences as 'mad power trips', then I have to totally disagree. The laws are usually made for valid reasons and put in place by the people we elect to do our bidding. If the laws reflect our best interests, why would you not want them enforced?

If they are contrary to what you believe, then vote someone else in when the time comes but in the meantime, respect the wishes of the majority who did pick those representatives.

And the bottom line is, with few exceptions, all these people, be they elected or otherwise, are doing the best they can and making the best decisions they can under very trying and unusual circumstances. We need them and they need our support. And keep in mind, hindsight is 20/20.

I think the difference might be in the definition of an illegal gathering. People have a right to protest so a gathering of 500 or 1,000 is not an illegal gathering. But people do not have a right to gather in their own home with friends. If I see a protest, the best I can hope for is that it is "mostly peaceful," and there is no point in reporting it because it is not illegal. But if I see 6 people enter my neighbor's home, I should assume it is an illegal gathering and I should report it to the police.

I'm not uninformed about the danger of the virus. I recognize the health crisis. I wear a mask. I social distance. I telecommute from home as much as I can. I don't attend large gatherings. I buy most of my groceries through curbside or delivery and when I dine out, I almost always pick up, dine in my car, or get delivery. But I think we need to focus here on what we are trying to do.

I'm not big on reporting small groups at my neighbor's house, but here the threshold numbers are, IMHO, much too large to be considered 'small groups' before they are illegal. For example, a bar that is supposed to be closed has the lights off in front but has lights and music in the fenced enclosure out back with 20-30 vehicles parked in the side yard (with none parked in the lot in front of the bar) merits a call. Eight cars at the curb of a neighbor on football afternoon could indeed be 10 people in the backyard, socially distanced and legal.

Changing elected officials as they come up for re-election is certainly a priority for me! Florida's governor has been truly noxious during the pandemic. He has given in to economic interests over general population at every turn of the road and has denied the validity of local officials to shut down, curb or even have enforceable penalties for non-compliance with mask wearing. He has designated that the first vaccine to come into the state will be shipped to Tampa, Orlando and Miami--Tampa to try to clean up the virus so a full blown Super Bowl can be played there, Orlando for the theme parks functioning and Miami also for the tourism. Maybe first responders will get first crack at it in those places.

@Bena wrote:

What's really the difference between reporting an assault, reporting a drunk driver, and reporting too many people at a gathering? All three are equally illegal and all three are endangering (presumed) innocent lives!

There isn't anything wrong with reporting it.

I was borderline with my neighbor back in April. I called police, b/c there was a large gathering of kids on our property playing sports (they used our yard for baseball and what not). They said they could come out and talk to them, but as we spoke on the phone, they started dispersing a bit. I said I'd watch and wait and call back if it got worse. They eventually dispersed entirely and I didn't call. This was when Northam said literally no one who is not in your family cannot gather. I knew the kids were not all under the same roof. They were all neighborhood kids from different houses. But they were playing sports with physical contact on our property, so I felt I had every reason to call.

I wouldn't blame someone who called police to follow the rules. It's a cultural thing too. In Australia, they had very strict lockdowns with literally soldiers enforcing quarantine of infected people and police enforcing social distancing of non-infected (known that is) people. Most citizens supported it. Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand got re-elected in a landslide victory with great approval of her handling of the pandemic there as well. Both nations have very low deaths. Many other countries are supportive and cooperative too. America is too divided.

Reporting on neighbors and other people is gestapo-like, and that voyeuristic practice should have died when Hitler passed on to wherever overbearing murderous nutcases go.

OTOH, personally taking responsibility for ones own self (and any dependents) is reasonable.

I like the comment about the definition of illegal gatherings. But the legal definition is not enough to encompass the need for health in relationships. There is a gulf between healthy relating from a distance and the sickness of reporting on other people. You've had the boundaries lecture before, so...

... How about a compromise? Let's lose the reporting. do our best with our personal PPE and efforts, and let other people do their thing even if it is not what we do or would like them to do. This is the only way to have a chance at physical health and social/relational health.

@Bena wrote:

If you are referring to reporting offences as 'mad power trips', then I have to totally disagree. The laws are usually made for valid reasons and put in place by the people we elect to do our bidding. If the laws reflect our best interests, why would you not want them enforced?

@Shop-et-al wrote:

Reporting on neighbors and other people is gestapo-like, and that voyeuristic practice should have died when Hitler passed on to wherever overbearing murderous nutcases go.

Nah. It's not necessarily spying if you just happen to notice (in an unavoidable way) that your neighbor has some giant party. It just depends. . . I know you'd report your neighbor if he was a child molester, right? So, reporting a neighbor isn't wrong either. It often just depends for me. I wouldn't report them if they littered and threw a soda can on the ground. My neighbor's kid did that. I might report them for COVID depending on the situation.
[www.nytimes.com]
"The Exponential Power of Now" (March 13, 2020)

Shopetal - I posted this article back in March in another thread. If you didn't catch it, I'd recommend taking 15 minutes of your day to read it. It was the single greatest motivating factor for me to wear a mask, social distance, and isolate. It's about the power of exponential math and how one person's actions and A SINGLE INFECTION can dramatically/exponentially change things for the better or worse. I'd like to think my actions reduced Virginia's case count/deaths by a lot (at least, locally in my city). Who knows, right? But, I know I did my part and for the longest time, we had a fantastic nation-beating curve...until just the past 10 days or so.

If people who are COVID-fatigued and need some inspiration, I'd read/reread that article. It might give you the strength to fight on. Mass vaccination is a few months away. You can literally dramatically change the course of history with your lone single actions to prevent JUST ONE infection. Read/reread it. Think about it.

Be encouraged.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/25/2020 01:01AM by shoptastic.

I mask. I social distance. I use approved products as recommended. You are preaching to the choir.

OTOH, I absolutely refuse to report other people for making different choices. Some people's choices might be based upon information which technically is in the HIPPA domain and that is invisible to me. What the heck kind of monster reports and causes trouble for someone who cannot toe the line so specifically or so well? I will not be that monster. At least, I intend not to be that monster. I would rather err on the side of freedoms and my newly minted interpretation of some law or other in which ignorance of someone else's private circumstances and mitigating factors does not constitute a reason to report them.

The closest thing I can find to my thought process is *gasp* religious. You have been warned that Romans 14:13 might be applicable here. Please avert your eyes from the banned religious reference.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/26/2020 04:47AM by Shop-et-al.

@Shop-et-al wrote:

You have been warned that Romans 14:13 might be applicable here.

I don't consider it passing judgment. I consider it looking out for my fellow man.