ATLANTA — It is a question that is understandably on many minds: "When is the quarantine over?"
Unfortunately, it is not a question with an easy answer.
In Georgia, the current shelter-in-place order issued by Gov. Brian Kemp lasts until the end of April.
It was originally supposed to end on Sunday before the governor extended it this week. And, depending on how the situation continues to develop here over the next three weeks, it certainly could be extended again.
The public health state of emergency, which is separate, for example, has already been extended to May 13.
What makes it even more complicated than that is how, once this current period of social distancing ends, the nature of the virus means we will probably see more quarantines, later.
"When we decide, at a proper time, when we're going to be relaxing some of the restrictions, there is no doubt you're going to see cases," Dr. Anthony Fauci said Friday at the daily briefing by the president's coronavirus task force. "I would be so surprised if we did not see cases."
As many epidemiologists and infectious disease experts have been noting for some time now, it won't be as simple as the quarantine just ending. It will have to be relaxed, gradually, with different things opening at different stages and people slowly being allowed to gather in larger and larger groups.
What that means we'll see, though, is "waves" of spikes in the number of cases. It will be impossible to get the coronavirus to completely disappear without a vaccine.
A March government report said the pandemic would "last 18 months or longer and could include multiple waves of illness."
That means this quarantine in Georgia will end on April 30 or May 13 or whatever day in the next few weeks that Gov. Kemp and his advisers eventually decide is best to start relaxing restrictions.
But the likeliest scenario is that it won't be the last quarantine we go under.
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