We're taking this social distancing concept to an absurd level of ridiculousness. There's absolutely not evidence to suggest you're endangering yourself or anyone else during the COVID19 crisis if you drive alone in your own automobile.
Anita Shaffer went for a drive around her neighborhood on Sunday and came home with a $200 fine for violating Pennsylvania's stay-at-home order that's meant to contain the spread of COVID-19.
Shaffer told PennLive that she went for a leisurely drive simply to get out of the house, but ended up getting pulled over by two state police officers as she was returning home. The cops said her taillight was out, but the ticket they ended up issuing to Shaffer says she violated the state's Disease Control and Prevention Act of 1955 and "failed to abide by the order of the governor and secretary of health issued to control the spread of a communicable disease."
"He asked me if I was aware of the stay-at-home act," Shaffer told PennLive's Jan Murphy. "I am aware of it but I didn't know it pertained to just driving."
Indeed, why should it? The key to stopping the spread of the coronavirus, we've been told by public health officials, is social distancing—that is, staying away from interpersonal contact as much as possible. A single person sitting inside their own car is no less isolated than someone sitting alone inside their house would be. In fact, if Shaffer's story is true, the only interpersonal contact she had while driving on Sunday was with the officers who pulled her over!