Many states are preparing to transition out of shelter-in-place regulations. States will start to end quarantine at the end of May through mid-June. Until then, people are advised to continue quarantine with their families and avoid contact with other people. However, people are getting restless, and some are starting to ignore the shelter-in-place  calls, which could extend the quarantine even longer if people are not being careful. States should start to allow the slow reopening of society, and until this process begins, we should continue to follow the shelter-in-place calls to prevent an even longer quarantine. 

States should start to allow the opening of certain types of stores to slowly open up society to ease the pressure of people racing out to do the things that they couldn’t due to quarantine. If everything is opened all at once, then there might be a second wave due to too many people all going out at the same time. Certain types of businesses are taking a hard hit from this quarantine because they have to close down. Places that are not essential for this time are suffering financially and many businesses are going out of business. Big clothing stores like Neiman Marcus and J. Crew have recently declared bankruptcy due to the quarantine. If certain stores are allowed to open,  people will slowly start to go back out into society in a safe manner. “I want quarantine to end because I want to get back to playing sports and hanging out with my friends before senior year,” junior Kate Rochios said. 

China is a good example of a country that opened everything all at once, and people swarmed into society, consequently spreading a second wave of the virus. Thousands of people are going out and are packed together at the tourist attractions because everyone wants to get out at the same time after months (or say actual stats this is a guess) in quarantine. In February, China had a large spike of cases but then dropped quickly and the amount of cases has been constant since March. Since  the beginning of March, the United States has had a rise in cases which had been fluctuating throughout the end of March and into April. In order for the U.S. to start to open up everything again, the cases need to consistently decrease. 

If everything is opened at once, this rush of people may cause certain problems and might force another shelter-in-place order if the situation is not handled correctly. “I think that the quarantine should not be ended right away, but it needs to be done slowly so we can avoid having to go back into quarantine again,” junior Lily Reiner said.  

California Governor Gavin Newsom wants to prevent the state from an increase in cases, so he is being very cautious in his approach to releasing the shelter-in-place order. He thinks California is ready to start easing into the release of quarantine, so it doesn’t happen all at once, which is the best way to approach the situation in order to avoid a second wave. If everyone starts getting back to their normal routines then that will increase contact and may increase the spread once again. We need to ease into opening up society again so there isn’t a second wave.