Austin – Lockdown => Shelter in Place

A week ago, the Austin mayor and a Travis County judge issued a lockdown order. Today, a week later, they issued a “shelter in place” order. Usually, a lockdown is more restrictive than a shelter in place order. Here, it’s the other way around. Today’s order has steeper penalties (fines up to $1000 and sentences up to 180 days in jail). It tightens which businesses may remain open and is more explicit what constitutes “essential services”. It doesn’t change much what we do: go grocery shopping, pickup prescriptions at the pharmacy, and go to the park for exercise. All three give us some in-person human interaction. E-mail, text messages, phone calls, and Zoom Meetings are good, but not enough.