# Self-Quarantining **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [March 5, 2020, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-quarantining/848965 "2020-03-05T15:29:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2020, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-quarantining/848965/1 "2020-03-05T15:29:26Z")
I’m unclear on what self-quarantining is and how it differs from other quarantining. From the NYP: [Members of coronavirus patient’s Westchester synagogue ordered to self-quarantine](https://nypost.com/2020/03/03/members-of-coronavirus-patients-westchester-synagogue-ordered-to-self-quarantine/) > [@](#): > > Those “who attended services on February 22, and a funeral and a bat mitzvah at the temple on February 23 must self-quarantine until at the very earliest March 8. Those who do not self-quarantine will be mandated to by the County Department of Health to do so,” Westchester County Executive George Latimer said in a press release about Temple Young Israel of New Rochelle. > > The county will issue legal orders to enforce the quarantine if need be, spokeswoman Catherine Cioffi told The Post. So it’s not like the self-quarantine aspect is that it’s voluntary. So what makes it a self-quarantine? Is it that it’s at home vs ordinary quarantine being at some public facility? If not, what else? ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2020, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-quarantining/848965/2 "2020-03-05T16:16:17Z")
Yes that it’s at home vs a specific facility which holds other quarantined people. A problem with self-quarantining is the possibility of infecting other family members who live with the quarantined person. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2020, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-quarantining/848965/3 "2020-03-05T16:40:21Z")
Back in ye olde days of infectious diseases, when you were diagnosed, the health department put [a sign like this on your front door.](http://ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService?id=NMAH-AHB2014q091704&max=1000) ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2020, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-quarantining/848965/4 "2020-03-05T16:45:37Z")
As you know, much of student learning and testing is done on line now. School districts are making contingency plans for a complete at home curriculum in the event it is deemed as warranted. If the Corona virus makes its appearance in a community, that school district isn’t going to wait for Little Johnny to bring it to school where a thousand kids are packed together breathing the same air and touching all the same things. The district will institute what amounts to a voluntary quarantine and close immediately. ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2020, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-quarantining/848965/5 "2020-03-05T19:04:52Z")
I don’t think schools or school districts have anything to do with quarantining. The school district can close the school or not, but they can’t force the people to remain isolated. That would be the health authorities.