Some COVID-19 questions for the US, for the Church in the US, and Death in the US

I am not a lawyer, and have limited understanding of all the quick movements that are taking place in each of our states.

I am hopeful that the measures being taken to prevent deaths and contagion are just that.

The following are questions that I've been pondering and wrestling with over the last few months in observing and chatting with some in China, and now seeing some of the techniques deployed in my own region in the United States.

I want to submit to my local, state, and federal bodies of government, and submit to almighty God. My aim is not to show dissent or disagreement. My aim is to ask questions about the life we are presently experiencing as Christians who are citizens in the US.

These questions aren't in any particular order, and I would welcome any cited sources to help provide answers to any of these questions. I have divided the questions up into two categories with a third category for deaths in the United States:

A) Questions regarding the United States
B) Questions regarding the Church of Jesus
C) Causes of death in the United States

Questions regarding the United States.

Question: What plan is in place to guarantee the rights of US citizens who are presently under arrest, detained until their jury trial? Under Article 6 of the 6th Amendment of the US Constitution:

Article [VI] (Amendment 6 - Rights of Accused in Criminal Prosecutions)
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.

Question: Does the statement by the US President that we are at "war" against the COVID-19 Virus constitute justification for the disregard of the 5th Amendment of the US Constitution?

Article [V] (Amendment 5 - Rights of Persons)
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

Question: Has the filling out of death certificates been in any way changed to accommodate for COVID-19? Below has been taken from the April 2nd 2020 CDC Guidance for Certifying Deaths Due to Coronavirus Disease 2019 publication [emphasis has been added]:

Conclusion
An accurate count of the number of deaths due to COVID–19
infection, which depends in part on proper death certification,
is critical to ongoing public health surveillance and response.
When a death is due to COVID–19, it is likely the UCOD and
thus, it should be reported on the lowest line used in Part I of
the death certificate. Ideally, testing for COVID–19 should be
conducted, but it is acceptable to report COVID–19 on a death
certificate without this confirmation if the circumstances are
compelling within a reasonable degree of certainty. 

Question:  Is the COVID-19 epidemic similar in size and scope to the regular flu season? (Quotes taken video and transcript from an interview with Dr. Knut Wittkowski. Dr. Wittkowski received his PhD in computer science from the University of Stuttgart and his ScD (Habilitation) in Medical Biometry from the Eberhard-Karls-University Tuüingen, both Germany. He worked for 15 years with Klaus Dietz, a leading epidemiologist who coined the term “reproduction number”, on the Epidemiology of HIV before heading for 20 years the Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Research Design at The Rockefeller University, New York. Dr. Wittkowski is currently the CEO of ASDERA LLC, a company discovering novel treatments for complex diseases from data of genome-wide association studies.:

[05:44.05] JOHN: And how many, in your estimation, would have died? Would it have been that much?
[05:48.25] WITTKOWSKI: Okay. We have, right now, let’s take realistic numbers in the United Sates: we have about 25,000 cases every day, that is probably the upper limit—make it 30,000—who knows? But let’s talk about 25,000. 2% of them will actually have symptoms—that is 500 cases a day. Maybe a third or a fifth—let’s say half of them—will need to be hospitalized. That’s 250 patients a day. If they have been hospitalized for about 10 days, that means that we will have—our hospital system will have to deal with 2,500 patients every day for a certain period of time—that could be 3 or 4 weeks, and then the number will dramatically decrease again and the whole epidemic will be over.
[06:51.20] JOHN: And of those hospitalized cases, what, in your estimation, how many would die?
[06:59.15] WITTKOWSKI: 2% will die—
[07:03.00] JOHN: Of the hospitalized cases?
[07:05.19] WITTKOWSKI: Of all cases.
[07:06.26] JOHN: Of all symptomatic cases.
[07:06.26] WITTKOWSKI: Of all symptomatic cases. 2% of all symptomatic cases will die. That is 2% of the 250,000 a day. So that is 500 people a day, and that will happen over 4 weeks. So, that could be as high as 10,000 people. Now, that compares to the normal numbers of flus during the flu season, and we have in the United States about 35,000 deaths due to flu every year during the flu season. So, it would be part of the normal situation during the flu season.
[07:52.13] LIBBY: Are they reporting flu deaths this year or is everything just corona? Is there any statistic for flu death?
[08:01.19] WITTKOWSKI: Yeah, there is a statistic for flu. It’s currently at about 10,000-12,000. So, together with the Corona deaths, it’s about regular flu season.
[08:12.09] JOHN: You’re basing your estimate now on the latest available numbers?
[08:16.07] WITTKOWSKI: Yes.

Questions regarding the Church of Jesus.

Question: Are churches essential operating organizations, or are they non-essential? What does our answer to this question reveal regarding our relationship with our God, our country, our neighborhoods, or our families?

Question: Is the call to worship issued from God each week for his people to gather, or is this symbolic only and can be delayed, postponed, or reshaped by earthly governments?

Question: Are churches and members still seeking to gather together, longing to be together? Or is this time a relief to be apart from otherwise unspoken, unwanted social obligations?

Question: The word "Church" originates from the concept of gathering or assembling together, if the church is not gathered together and therefore cannot take communion together, are our worship services still CORPORATE (together) worship services?

Question: Are we rendering to Caesar what is Caesar by submitting to stay at home orders, while also rendering to God what is God's? How does this teaching from Jesus inform our duties and our opportunities while under quarantine?

Causes of death in the United States. 

It's as though the entire world is struggling with the reality that death is coming. COVID-19 may have done more to stir up the reality that eternity is but a few breaths away than the warnings of many an exceptional preacher. Yet COVID-19 isn't the only cause of death, and death isn't going away when this COVID-19 epidemic and imprint on society is over. With all of the below deaths on an annual basis, we do not cease living. Granted, many of these causes of death are not contagions that can spread through contact or proximity. Yet, many of these causes of death are preventable but are not reasons for shutting down the nation.

The following was taken from the CDC's report on causes of death in the US in 2017.

Death is coming for us all, whether its in the form of Heart decease, Cancer, or something else entirely.

What types of death are you willing to give up your work, and your freedom of travel to prevent?