The public first got wind of this impending nightmare on May 4, 2020, when Governor Gavin Newson of California announced that the "army" – his word – will start with a deployment of 3,000 and grow to the 20,000 mark to chase down who, what, where, and with whom COVID positive people have had connections: "the tracing component requires workforce and to identify individuals who tested positive…to ID their contacts (with privacy) and maybe quarantine individuals to stop the spread of the disease."

In a video, Robert Levin, MD Health Officer / Medical Director of Ventura County, California, elaborated with details about the state's plans — which included the forcible removal of people from their homes and the establishment of mass community contact tracing..

"There are going to be thousands of people hired who will be these contact investigators throughout the state. And this is occurring in many, many other states as well — perhaps all the states in our country. We will be giving intensive training to these people, training not only for identifying and finding contacts but also in terms of how to be sensitive about doing it."

The news reverberated on social media. Del Bigtree, of Informed Consent Action Network tweeted: "What would you do if your six year old son or daughter tested positive for Covid19 and was taken from your home to a quarantine center by Ventura Health Authorities?" https://thehighwire.com/videos/mandatory-covid-camps-begin/