Governor Phil Scott of Vermont is now directing schools to interrogate students about what they did on Thanksgiving. He wants to know if they had a large family gathering.

Did you ever imagine that things like this would be taking place in the United States?

And Phil Scott is a Republican. What is he thinking?

The Federalist reports:

According to Scott, students or parents who admit to violating the state’s holiday travel and gathering rules will be forced to participate in online school for two weeks, he announced via Twitter on Tuesday. The penalty will be reduced to one week if the students in question take a COVID-19 test.

The same quarantine method, Scott claimed, should apply to businesses whose employees decide to celebrate the Thanksgiving holidays with friends and family.

“This isn’t a way around the ban or an excuse to get together,” he wrote. “The more we adhere to this policy, the faster we’ll lower case counts & ease up on restrictions.”

Governor Phil Scott @GovPhilScott

Replying to @GovPhilScott

Enough of these dominoes put our health care facilities at risk. Protecting our family and friends is in our hands and we all have a role to play. So I’m asking you to help by avoiding getting together with people outside your households and not travel this week. 8/

Governor Phil Scott @GovPhilScott

Replying to @GovPhilScott

Unfortunately, we know some will still get together and schools have asked for help. @VTEducation will direct schools to ask students or parents if they were part of multi-family gatherings and if the answer is yes, they'll need to go remote for 14 days or 7 days and a test. 9/