Curfew restrictions: Is it legal to leave your house?

Jason Miller80 said:This whole policy just highlighted how ridiculous it is to have a million tiny little municipalities. You’ve got people living in these small towns—basically just a cluster of houses with a church and a single convenience store—who can't even drive to the nearest actual hub. They need to get to the town center for a Target, a CVS, an ATM, or a clinic... places they actually rely on. But now? They can't move an inch without some local official demanding a permit. And those officials will just say "no" because their boss told them to watch the quotas. It's pure insanity...

I couldn't agree more.
Though, honestly, it really all comes down to whether or not your local mayor is actually a decent human being.

🤦

Bryan Taylor6 said:Where on earth are you getting the idea that it's a $10000 fine for leaving your place of residence?

I was actually wondering the exact same thing. I couldn't find a single mention of that online, and I haven't been able to get a straight answer from anyone either.
I’m reading that about 80 people in my area were flagged today for being without a permit.
Are they all seriously looking at a $30 $0.00 fine?
Is this just another thinly veiled attempt to pad the federal budget?
Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised. In a country this absurd, nothing surprises me anymore.

rustyjackal16 said:Exactly. Either you stay within your county, or even better, just stick to your immediate region. That’s what another user on this forum suggested, and honestly, I couldn't agree more.

It makes zero sense that you can drive from Dubuque to Central Park, yet you aren't allowed to travel from Naperville to the western outskirts of Washington, D.C.

Or even just traveling between neighboring small towns. We all see how people have to commute for work, or how they have to drive to the next town over just to find a pharmacy or a grocery store because their own village doesn't have one. It’s illogical. It’s not like viruses care about municipal borders or county lines
.

There is absolutely no reason to restrict driving from Pittsburgh to Naperville or from Cleveland to Kearney when those two counties combined only have a handful of cases. This isn't like taking a massive trip between two major hubs, like flying from Washington, D.C. to Miami.

I believe these measures were implemented with good intentions, but as the old saying goes, the road to hell is paved with good intentions😁
.
So, we decide to limit movement to vacation spots—you know, the islands, the coastal cities in Florida where everyone goes to summer homes and rentals.
Fine. But if that's the plan, why not set up checkpoints in those specific areas? Put them on Manhattan or Martha's Vineyard where people keep their weekend houses, or along the main highways leading down to Florida, California, or the South. Set up controls there instead.

Instead of applying this rule selectively, it’s just foolish to generalize it across all of America. It's nonsensical. It’s just like how it's unfair to punish the entire nation because of a few "corona parties"—it shouldn't be everyone's problem. Looking out my window, the streets look as deserted as if an atomic bomb had just gone off.

How am I supposed to visit my sick parents for the Easter holidays now? Or drop off their medication? Or even check on my vacation home to see if there's any damage after the earthquake? 🤔 I have my own car, I wear my mask—even if it feels like it doesn't do much, you get my point. This restriction just doesn't make sense.

And how am I meant to get to my apartment over the next month to make sure it hasn't crumbled? Empty houses are basically an open invitation for thieves and idiots, and there's going to be plenty more of both around now. If I come back in a month and find I've been robbed, who am I even supposed to complain to? Who's actually going to track down the thief?

What are the odds of all this actually happening?

Higher than the odds of Washington, D.C. getting hit by its biggest earthquake in 140 years right at the same time as a global pandemic.

I’ve been seeing a lot of discussion lately, and I was wondering if anyone has insight on moving abroad. We have two healthcare professionals in the mix—one is even a specialist. All the paperwork is ready for the USA, and we both hold citizenship, but there's a catch: our permanent addresses are different. While we both have our credentials cleared for international work, getting everything aligned locally is proving to be a massive headache because our residency situations don't match up, and the distance between us makes it even harder. Does anyone know how long this process typically takes? We actually have job offers waiting... we just want to figure out how to navigate this so we can finally be together. This current setup just isn't working for us.

It mentions that healthcare workers are supposedly allowed to leave—but how do they actually verify that? What’s the actual requirement to exit America? Is it a specific contract, or is just showing your foreign professional license/membership card enough?

Jose Scott3 said:In a functional country, you’d be behind bars for saying something like that.
Lucky for everyone that you aren't a doctor or running for office.

I'd take him over Kalinica or Beros any day of the week.

The truth hurts, I get it.
In a sane society, people would actually weigh the benefits against the damage being done.

Does anyone happen to know if Delta Air Lines is actually flying out of New York City tonight headed for Washington, D.C.? And—this is the big one—is it even feasible to leave Germany and then make it back to Germany just three days later? According to what Delta Air Lines is saying, the flight is definitely happening and they’re claiming there's no way to cancel it. I've got a friend coming to visit, but they're honestly pretty stressed about the return trip... mostly because they're worried about getting stuck in some sort of fourteen-day quarantine if things go sideways.

A few days back, I submitted my application for a visitor's pass so I could drop off some meals for my dad—he’s only about a five-minute drive away, but the restrictions make it a whole ordeal. I was hoping to swing by two or three times a week just to check in and bring him food, but I haven't heard a single word back from the facility yet. I spent yesterday making endless calls to the administration because I have to head over there again today, and I'm still stuck in limbo.
Of course, you can never get a straight answer out of anyone.

Kyle Lopez2 said:What's the point of doing science if it isn't serving industry?🤔

Well, give me a break...🤦
Obviously, there are specializations in the public sector where they're essentially paying themselves...

Private companies won't pay for it because it's a massive expense.
An individual employee won't either, since it's a huge cost to them too, and they have even less cash than the boss...

But as an employer? I'd absolutely hire someone from the public sector who already has every possible certification, specialization, and whatever else under the sun. It's freaking cheaper to hire a "ready-made" pro than to take some kid, pay for all their training over years, and then deal with them ditching me for a competitor offering just $100$67 more without even asking.

The issue is that the public sector funds all this stuff without ever considering the cost or doing anything to actually retain talented people.
So, naturally, they just leave the country. And the tragic part? They leave for the exact same gross salary they had here, but their take-home pay is way higher because foreign countries aren't nearly as expensive as we are.
Which makes total sense, considering our absurd number of counties, municipalities, agencies, and God knows what else...

All our problems start and end in the same place, and it's glaringly obvious now.🤦
New York City accounts for about a quarter of the population, and they just exist in their own little bubble. Then you've got four other major hubs making up roughly another quarter of the US population, spinning in their own circles...
Meanwhile, the remaining half is stuck dealing with hundreds of tiny, ridiculous local municipalities, and damn if they don't run into a hundred different issues. Even the federal government struggles to manage that chaos while trying to pass uniform laws for everyone...
Honestly, if you think about it, they probably need more people to police those ridiculous local borders than we ever needed during a war.🤦
Even if you pulled some legendary 500,000 veterans out of a hat to guard those municipal lines, it wouldn't be enough to control them, let alone everything else...

I have been browsing through various municipal websites lately, and frankly, the situation is nothing short of surreal. The most absurd examples are those claiming to have "fully digitized" their permit issuance processes—except this supposed digitalization consists merely of filling out a Word document and emailing it over, only for them to send back a scanned, signed copy. It begs the question: where are you even supposed to print such a thing? Or does anyone actually know if a police officer will accept a digital document displayed on a smartphone?
Then there are the municipalities announcing they will issue permits for purchasing basic groceries, but with the caveat that they can only be used twice a week. How exactly does that work? Is the officer expected to maintain a running tally of your usage every time you shop?
Some of them have barely put any effort in at all, simply pasting two lines of text into a generic template.
There are even instances where the instructions are to simply call the local precinct chief on their landline or cell phone.

I remember laughing at sketches like this in the past, but it seems we have finally crossed the threshold into reality:

copperwolf16 said:I have been browsing through various municipal websites lately, and frankly, the situation is nothing short of surreal. The most absurd examples are those claiming to have "fully digitized" their permit issuance processes—except this supposed digitalization consists merely of filling out a Word document and emailing it over, only for them to send back a scanned, signed copy. It begs the question: where are you even supposed to print such a thing? Or does anyone actually know if a police officer will accept a digital document displayed on a smartphone?
Then there are the municipalities announcing they will issue permits for purchasing basic groceries, but with the caveat that they can only be used twice a week. How exactly does that work? Is the officer expected to maintain a running tally of your usage every time you shop?
Some of them have barely put any effort in at all, simply pasting two lines of text into a generic template.
There are even instances where the instructions are to simply call the local precinct chief on their landline or cell phone.

I remember laughing at sketches like this in the past, but it seems we have finally crossed the threshold into reality:

A few days ago on Meta, someone asked the exact same thing—if they’d accept permits on a phone—and the answer was yes.

Joseph Taylor11 said:And how am I meant to get to my apartment over the next month to make sure it hasn't crumbled? Empty houses are basically an open invitation for thieves and idiots, and there's going to be plenty more of both around now. If I come back in a month and find I've been robbed, who am I even supposed to complain to? Who's actually going to track down the thief?

What are the odds of all this actually happening?

Higher than the odds of Washington, D.C. getting hit by its biggest earthquake in 140 years right at the same time as a global pandemic.

Cut the drama. Honestly, I’m in almost the exact same boat as you—I've got property in a neighboring city and scored my permit in less than 24 hours after hitting submit on the online application. Now I can legally roll over there whenever I feel like it to check on things.

Did you even bother to submit the application online?

Joseph Taylor11 said:I was actually wondering the exact same thing. I couldn't find a single mention of that online, and I haven't been able to get a straight answer from anyone either.
I’m reading that about 80 people in my area were flagged today for being without a permit.
Are they all seriously looking at a $30 $0.00 fine?
Is this just another thinly veiled attempt to pad the federal budget?
Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised. In a country this absurd, nothing surprises me anymore.

It's right here:

Can you actually save some $5.00 if you just pay the fine on the spot?

stormybadger8 said:Well, give me a break...🤦
Obviously, there are specializations in the public sector where they're essentially paying themselves...

Private companies won't pay for it because it's a massive expense.
An individual employee won't either, since it's a huge cost to them too, and they have even less cash than the boss...

But as an employer? I'd absolutely hire someone from the public sector who already has every possible certification, specialization, and whatever else under the sun. It's freaking cheaper to hire a "ready-made" pro than to take some kid, pay for all their training over years, and then deal with them ditching me for a competitor offering just $100$67 more without even asking.

The issue is that the public sector funds all this stuff without ever considering the cost or doing anything to actually retain talented people.
So, naturally, they just leave the country. And the tragic part? They leave for the exact same gross salary they had here, but their take-home pay is way higher because foreign countries aren't nearly as expensive as we are.
Which makes total sense, considering our absurd number of counties, municipalities, agencies, and God knows what else...

All our problems start and end in the same place, and it's glaringly obvious now.🤦
New York City accounts for about a quarter of the population, and they just exist in their own little bubble. Then you've got four other major hubs making up roughly another quarter of the US population, spinning in their own circles...
Meanwhile, the remaining half is stuck dealing with hundreds of tiny, ridiculous local municipalities, and damn if they don't run into a hundred different issues. Even the federal government struggles to manage that chaos while trying to pass uniform laws for everyone...
Honestly, if you think about it, they probably need more people to police those ridiculous local borders than we ever needed during a war.🤦
Even if you pulled some legendary 500,000 veterans out of a hat to guard those municipal lines, it wouldn't be enough to control them, let alone everything else...

This is by design.
The younger demographic in major metropolitan areas is essentially being tasked with building herd immunity on their own backs—or rather, through their own lungs—just look at New York City. Meanwhile, folks living in smaller towns and rural municipalities are actually quite lucky; they're effectively under a near-total home quarantine, especially the elderly, since the youth won't be bringing the infection into their immediate circles.

Take Sweden, for example. In their larger cities, it isn't common for grandparents to live under the same roof as their grandkids, so they didn't shut down daycare centers or elementary schools as a way to let the younger population catch the virus. In rural areas, there is a much higher risk of infecting the elderly, who pose a massive challenge to the healthcare system because there simply aren't enough ventilators to go around. Therefore, implementing much stricter restrictions on rural areas actually makes perfect sense.

Casey Palmer5 said:I’ve been seeing a lot of discussion lately, and I was wondering if anyone has insight on moving abroad. We have two healthcare professionals in the mix—one is even a specialist. All the paperwork is ready for the USA, and we both hold citizenship, but there's a catch: our permanent addresses are different. While we both have our credentials cleared for international work, getting everything aligned locally is proving to be a massive headache because our residency situations don't match up, and the distance between us makes it even harder. Does anyone know how long this process typically takes? We actually have job offers waiting... we just want to figure out how to navigate this so we can finally be together. This current setup just isn't working for us.

It mentions that healthcare workers are supposedly allowed to leave—but how do they actually verify that? What’s the actual requirement to exit America? Is it a specific contract, or is just showing your foreign professional license/membership card enough?

Wait, aren't healthcare workers under mandatory service right now? If that's the case, they're basically stuck, right?

I’m honestly wondering where I should even go to ask this. Does anyone here actually have any intel?

When is intercity bus service finally going to be back up and running?

I already gave Greyhound a call,

but they don't have a single shred of information to give me.

Melissa Robinson3 said:It's right here:

Can you actually save some $5.00 if you just pay the fine on the spot?

Hmm... look, I'm getting this straight from a guy working for the Department of Homeland Security. He’s telling me there’s no such thing as a $30,000 fine written in the law—it's just people making stuff up and trying to scam you. Seriously, don't be naive.
The only way they can actually hit you with a fine is if you're caught forging a passport.

electrichound22 said:I’m honestly wondering where I should even go to ask this. Does anyone here actually have any intel?

When is intercity bus service finally going to be back up and running?

I already gave Greyhound a call,

but they don't have a single shred of information to give me.

That's all up to the National Command Center. If they don't know yet, you can bet your life Greyhound doesn't either. And honestly? Don't hold your breath for at least another month.

copperwolf16 said:I have been browsing through various municipal websites lately, and frankly, the situation is nothing short of surreal. The most absurd examples are those claiming to have "fully digitized" their permit issuance processes—except this supposed digitalization consists merely of filling out a Word document and emailing it over, only for them to send back a scanned, signed copy. It begs the question: where are you even supposed to print such a thing? Or does anyone actually know if a police officer will accept a digital document displayed on a smartphone?
Then there are the municipalities announcing they will issue permits for purchasing basic groceries, but with the caveat that they can only be used twice a week. How exactly does that work? Is the officer expected to maintain a running tally of your usage every time you shop?
Some of them have barely put any effort in at all, simply pasting two lines of text into a generic template.
There are even instances where the instructions are to simply call the local precinct chief on their landline or cell phone.

I remember laughing at sketches like this in the past, but it seems we have finally crossed the threshold into reality:

In my area, the request asks for your destination address and purpose. You get a three-hour window once a week for groceries if they approve you, but now they're telling us to just use local shops (which are basically two tiny corner stores that don't even carry fish, chicken, or half the essentials). And before all this, they were yelling at everyone not to stockpile because there was no need...

They limit movement outside the township, yet houses are miles apart in rural areas, while in the cities where everyone is packed together, you're walking to the store and risking exposure constantly... It feels like the people in the small towns are the ones getting screwed by these isolation rules.

Nicholas Kim50 said:Does anyone happen to know if Delta Air Lines is actually flying out of New York City tonight headed for Washington, D.C.? And—this is the big one—is it even feasible to leave Germany and then make it back to Germany just three days later? According to what Delta Air Lines is saying, the flight is definitely happening and they’re claiming there's no way to cancel it. I've got a friend coming to visit, but they're honestly pretty stressed about the return trip... mostly because they're worried about getting stuck in some sort of fourteen-day quarantine if things go sideways.

https://www.coronavirus.gov/travel-guidelines/

I'll give you my take on your situation and your friend's. Just stay safe and healthy out there.

Rebecca Peterson94 said:Hmm... look, I'm getting this straight from a guy working for the Department of Homeland Security. He’s telling me there’s no such thing as a $30,000 fine written in the law—it's just people making stuff up and trying to scam you. Seriously, don't be naive.
The only way they can actually hit you with a fine is if you're caught forging a passport.

Here is the conflicting info I've been seeing lately:
1. There's a $30,000 fine.$0.00
2. The fine ranges from $3,000 up to $30,000.$0.00
3. And now this: there is no fine at all, they "just send you back."

So, a couple of questions:
1. Has anyone here actually been caught without their papers? If so, what happened?
2. Does anyone have the actual facts or know exactly what the penalties are—or better yet, where they're officially posted?