Ohio to Pilot US COVID Detention Facilities

Health expert Pam Popper, who runs Wellness Forum Health in Ohio, remarked recently on her YouTube “video clips” series on Ohio Governor DeWine’s much talked about order of August 31 ostensibly establishing COVID detention centers in that state. The directive, which is actually issued by Ohio Department of Health Interim Director Lance Himes, orders that: “non-congregate sheltering be utilized throughout the state for those who are unable to safely self-quarantine in their place of residence and to isolate those diagnosed with or showing symptoms of COVID-19”.

The specific examples of the types of otherwise healthy persons targeted for COVID detention are: anyone who tests positive, or has been “exposed” to COVID, and “asymptomatic high-risk individuals needing social distancing as a precautionary measure”. “Specific populations” will also be targeted for isolation by local health officials.

As informed individuals know, COVID testing returns a high certainty of false positives.

The order has become such an infamous document that you can no longer access it at Ohio.gov. In fact, Ohio.gov, as of this writing, does not even appear to be a functional website.

However, the document is accessible through the Wayback Machine despite just having been issued on August 31.

Such detentions would be conducted by the Ohio Emergency Management Agency (EMA), which would “secure” “public and private facilities” to operate such “non-congregate shelters”.

The order focuses on the use of public colleges and universities for “non-congregate sheltering”:

Public colleges and universities are directed to make available vacant grounds, buildings, and facilities of such college or university as determined to be necessary and suitable after reasonable consultation between the respective college or university officials and the local board of health, Ohio EMA, or county emergency management agency for temporary use as non-congregate sheltering to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

All such facilities will receive immunity from civil liability, except for community and technical colleges.

Ohio health officials seem to expect a high number of “detainees” for a “virus” that has not proven very virulent by any standard.

Their purpose is not entirely clear, as the order is good for “90 days or at a time to be determined by the director of Health, whichever is sooner”. Is this just a trial run?

It is worth noting that Lance Himes is a lawyer, not a doctor. And he’s the Interim Director of Health, which means his position is temporary. This is not a good sign. Seasoned political observers will recognize that when something untoward goes down, it is usually fronted by a temporary official who will leave office soon thereafter; or if the official was permanent, they will step down to remove the association of those unsavory policies. Recall when former NY Fed president and Obama Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner finished overseeing bailouts to Wall St. and corporate America, he stepped down and was replaced by Jack Lew.

Ohio Governor DeWine nonetheless claims that state plans to detain healthy (“asymptomatic”) individuals against their will is just an internet rumor.

Popper also talked about DeWine’s order to make parents and schools report all positive cases of children, K–12, within 24 hours. The schools will then make a report to their local health department within 24 hours. The local health departments will report new and cumulative cases to the Ohio Department of Health. Yet children between five and 17 comprise only 6% of cases and less then .1% of deaths.

Will children be housed in these detention facilities?

Plans for involuntary detention, requisitioning property for such purposes and forcing parents and schools to report their children to authorities does not paint a pretty picture. Perhaps nothing will come of it, but given the fact that the COVID virus doesn’t exist or at best is a nothingburger, these omens should alarm us all.