As irrational as it may be, hostages during a bank robbery often feel gratitude towards their captors when allowed to move around the floor of the bank. Psychologists say that there is a dramatic shift in context brought about by the sudden change in morals and values. Powerful, primitive positive feelings overwhelm reason.

Something has to happen to make this “syndrome” possible. According to psychiatrist Frank Ochberg, “first people would experience something terrifying that just comes out of the blue. They are certain they are going to die.”

COVID-19 is terrifying, and people are dying.

When Gov. Gina Raimondo ordered the state police to intercept New Yorkers as they crossed into Rhode Island, many of us were OK with it. Quickly, many reconciled the obvious intrusion with a feeling that we would be safer.

We looked past the fact that, on any other day, the law requires the police to have probable cause before they turn on the lights and siren and force a citizen to the side of the road. We easily accepted the risk to first responders who were ordered to expose themselves to folks coming from a “hot spot” in order to give a warning — a warning that could have been posted on those illuminated signs that regularly carry humorous phrases against drunk driving or for wearing a seat belt.

So far, the “terrifying” feeling that made us feel comfortable with upsetting New Yorkers hasn’t gone away. And the government is about to put our tolerance to the next test.

Executive Order 20-20, enacted on April 9, authorizes the government to intercept an otherwise healthy citizen that it believes must be quarantined and order that person to stay home for 14 days or else be punished.

Stopping those New Yorkers was one thing. They’re not from here, they were on a public road, and the intrusion lasted minutes. Executive Order 20-20 stands for something very different.

Executive Order 20-20 arms the government with the power to stop Rhode Islanders anywhere and order those ordinary, law-abiding folks to stay home for 14-days. For that to happen, the government need only a reason to believe that the about-to-be confined person was within a specific distance of another person who was COVID-19 positive.

Even if the person so detained appears to be healthy, mere proximity to an infected person is sufficient to confine anyone within a short distance of that person to their home.

To accomplish this, the government needs a tool that instantly connects all of us to each other and then reports that information to the government. When one person tests positive for the virus, that tool will tell the government with whom the connected person had “contact.” Hence, “contact tracing.”

Our smartphones are that invisible connection.

Imagine that you were shopping in Aisle 7 of the Atwood Avenue Stop & Shop at the same time that an infected person walked by. Executive Order 20-20 would allow the government to dispatch the police to your home and confine you there for the next 14 days.

That same tool, like the ankle bracelet strapped to a felon on home confinement, could immediately alert the police if you step outside your home’s perimeter, and Executive Order 20-20 authorizes your punishment.

This scenario doesn’t sound like the United States.

We are afraid because we feel unsafe and fear makes us vulnerable. Contact tracing feels comfortable so we open the door and allow it in. If unchecked, Executive Order 20-20 could open a door that we will not be able to close after this exigency passes.

John R. Grasso is a Providence-based lawyer and retired police officer.

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