Explaining Shelter In Place. Sgt. Ray Kelly Talks to Armstrong & Getty

home routine. I absolutely think that in the dense or more densely populating parts of the country, it's just a matter of days before everybody's hearing something like this. We're gonna be like Italy and Germany and France and everywhere else South Korea. Alameda Contra Costi, Contra costum or in Santa Clara, San Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa Cruz County so far appear to be a most aggressive public response to coronavirus anywhere in the US so far, and from

Alameda County. Sergeant Ray Kelly joins us raised, the public Information officer for the Alameda Sheriff's Office, Sergeant Kelly, how are you, sir? Oh, good morning. I got about five hours sleep, but I'm ready to roll back at it again. It's been it's been a roller coaster of of a week, to say the least. Right. I have friends in law enforcement who say that things are changing by the half hour, and everybody's just scrambling to figure out what's what. So

how would you characterize the shelter in place order? I mean, it's there are a plenty of exceptions. Nobody's going to get their head cracked for leaving their house. What do you have to say? Well, okay, what do you have to say to the citizens of the Bay area so that you know that that's a great question. And I'm getting asked all sorts of questions. I got people calling me and asking me, even friends and family, Hey can I go for a walk? Can I go do this?

So what people are being asked to do is if you're doing non essential things. If you're not, uh, have a reason to go and do whatever activity is in the health order, Um, we're asking you not to do it. The most important thing is large groups and situations where people don't need to interact because they don't serve in essential function that they stay home and that they practice the physical social distancing. Um that's been asked to them. Use use the word asked twice? Are you asking people?

Are telling people, well, this is it is a law. It's a misdemeanor violation of the Health and Safety Code to to violate it. But the issue is is we're not looking to fill up our jails with with a bunch of citizens that violated, you know, the law. So there's there's the spirit of the law and the letter of the law. You know, we as a society have

social norms and people do what is socially normal. So we're we know that the majority of our citizens here in the Bay Area are going to do the right thing, that they're going to follow the guideline, and that other people are gonna show each other what is socially acceptable. So for example, you know, three weeks ago, four weeks ago, we shook each other's hands. Now we see people not

shaking each other's hands. That's not socially acceptable because people are concerned about their health and so, um, we have a way of kind of policing ourselves as a society and telling each other, what's good, what's right, what's wrong. So in that regard, I think we will all help each other do the right thing. And so, uh, this notion or this mindset that's that some people have that the police are going to be out there just looking for you to violate the rules, that's not the case.

We're really we really know and truly believe that people will do the right thing. And you know, here the the alternative is not good because the longer we we don't follow the guidelines, the longer we kicked the can down the road, the longer we have to stay in these conditions. So we have an opportunity to knock this down. Um, we don't even know where in what direction this is headed at this point in our region. And so so we have an opportunity to get ahead of this, and

now is the time to do it. Because when you are, your officers go if you if you don't buy a restaurant that's open, uncertain people, and you are, your officers go in there and talk to the owner and say, hey, you shouldn't do that. Well, so so we would go to a business if it's a non essential business, and we would go there and we would ask them you're

you're you're not allowed to do this. People are allowed to go to their business two check on their their infrastructure, to check the freezers, to do their payroll, to to manage the day to day UH operations of their business to keep it functioning, so that when we're done with this, people can then turn the lights back on and go to work. So people can do that. People will be going in and out of businesses and work and doing that.

But but we're saying that you can't open your bar and restaurant back up and crowd people within inches of each other and begin to spread the virus UM, a virus that we know to be spread even if you're asymptomatic. So we have to practice the social distancing guidelines. If you have an essential job, if you're in an industry that we need you in and we need you to be at work, UM, then you'll go there but yourself

to practice the guidelines of the Health Order while you're working. So, Sergeant ray Kelly, it's a unique it's a unique time, but we're not we're not out there looking to, you know, put handcuffs on people and take them to jail, because our jails, our jails. They don't have the capacity or the ability, nor do we have. So what do you in for? I was five ft away from a guy next to me. That would be both ironic and counter

productive to cram the jails full of people. Sergeant Ray Kelly is the public Information officer at the Alameda County Sheriff's Office. Uh, listen, I understand the contingency planning doesn't mean that something's going to happen. But what have you been hearing from the Governor's office, for instance, about what might be next? Well, you know, right now, he's gonna have to clean up and address some of the essential functions,

like what those are. So one of the things we're worried about is like manufacturing certain manufacturing facilities that produced things that we need, so we need to deal with that. Um in Silicon Valley. A lot of people down there can work remotely and continue their jobs, but there's certain jobs that that we need people to go into in certain industries to make supplies, to manufacture things that we're going to need that are essential to everyday life. So

I think hopefully he addresses things like that. I think we're going to just have to feel this out in the coming days, adjust and adapt as as the situation unfolds. I think we can look to Italy and what's going on over there. I know I've been been watching that to see what how they're handling it, because they've been doing this now for a couple of weeks. So um. And then I heard you say earlier in the show that that that this is likely coming to other larger areas,

and that's probably true. So people are gonna be looking at our model to see how we're how we're doing here in the in the six Barrier counties that are in this So he is there has there been any discussion of actual martial law at this point. No. I have been on multiple phone calls. We have been on

multiple phone calls. Of course we would no. I I think that, you know, because because we're in the United States, and because we are a democracy, and because we have the Constitution and a whole lot of rights, is really hard to impose those types of situations onto people like you can do in a country like China. You can knock lock people down and drag them off if they don't follow and and create. But we have due process. We have a colonel justice system. We have things in place,

um for those reasons. So there's there, there's all these extremes out there. But I just I think if people just practice and do um what we're asking of them through with our health experts and they listen, we can all get through this in a way that is manageable and puts less stress on everyone. Sergeant Ray Kelly, the Alamida Sheriff's Office. Uh, sergeant, keep you guys safe and healthy and keep doing a good job. We appreciate the time. Well,

thank you very much, take care all right. Thanks And if you weren't listening at the first party, said they will taste people if they're standing less and six ft from Oh boy, exactly the way I interpreted it. But we got a text and says, Jack, you're not helping with any of your comments. That's probably true that every day, you know, you ever listen to the show, the more

he he's out of control. The more I think about it, the more I feel like this is just all going to take care of itself without having going to get into some of these details. Because as fewer and fewer people go out, the businesses are going to close because it's cheaper to be closed. Than to be open. And if there's no place to go because everything's closed, nobody's gonna go out. So there's just I mean, where would I go if I did leave my home? And that

will help? And one person driving around is not gonna be a big deal anyway. I mean, so there's there's just it's just gonna build on itself. Well, and I think of the vast majority of people understand the intent of all this, and they think, yeah, that's legit. All the people I trust tell me this is legit. It's legit. I don't want people dying by the hundreds of the thousands.

And one of the things they're starting to see in a couple of places like New York, in Washington State and UM and a couple others is that you're having more healthcare workers getting sick, more hospital nurses getting sick. And we really really want to avoid that because this system could get overwhelmed in such a big hurry that people are thinking, yeah, I know they're not gonna arrest me, but I'm gonna do it anyway. I got this text.

It's highly recommended that every will check the expiration date on their toilet paper. If expired, it will not protect you from the coronavirus. Oh boy, when will the toilet paper crisis end? I was written The Wall Street Journal has got two articles about it today. It's gonna be like next week. The big manufacturers have ramped up, which brings me to the the the interesting economic discussion of should prowse price gouging be allowed? And I've been convinced

that it should be. Um, it makes perfectly good sense to me. And we can get into that if the people are worth saving, they'd have money to buy. Right. We're going to need a higher level classes to lead us to the new future. They've canceled the post viral future. They canceled the Kentucky Derby for the first time ever. Oh my gosh, when will it end? Have they told the horses