[76lsjumb]

There's the rub.  I'm not sure that "prudence" is a scientific concept...  Nor that your concept of "prudence" is the same as the next guy's.  Of course, we could decree that the Government's idea of "prudence" should be all-powerful.  But then, I'm not sure Newsom's concept of "prudence" is the same as Trump's.  So, the insistence on doing what "science," rather than politics or economics, says should be done, ultimately and necessarily, must give way to the "prudence" of whomever wields the power.  In the United States, that's the people.

Not quite. In many cases the people have ceded that power to others. County Health officers are one prominent example. They have wide ranging powers that are not easily overcome. This has been deemed necessary by the people because of exactly the effects you point out. In times of serious threat, "the people" probably can't agree on what is "prudent". Historically, people have always understood quarantines are sometimes necessary, until they are the ones to be quarantined. In effect, in this case, the person who is "all powerful" has been defined.

I don't disagree with that as far as County Health officials are concerned.  indeed, the kerfuffle this weekend in Orange County is a good example and kind of proves [or, at least, supports, my point.  People are much more willing to abide by restrictions imposed by their local governmental agency and less so as that agency gets further and further away.

In the current situation, I still chuckle when I imagine the outcry that would have ensued if Trump had announced, in late January or early February -- say in the middle of or immediately after the impeachment hearings -- that he was invoking executive power to order a nationwide shutdown on the scale that many have been [and, indeed, still are] prescribing as absolutely essential in the name of health safety.  The cries of "Dictator!" would have been deafening, impeachment proceedings would have resumed within hours...and all those "idiot protesters" not practicing social distancing would have been massing outside the White House by the millions [very likely with the full on support of mainstream media].

[76lsjumb]

There's the rub.  I'm not sure that "prudence" is a scientific concept...  Nor that your concept of "prudence" is the same as the next guy's.  Of course, we could decree that the Government's idea of "prudence" should be all-powerful.  But then, I'm not sure Newsom's concept of "prudence" is the same as Trump's.  So, the insistence on doing what "science," rather than politics or economics, says should be done, ultimately and necessarily, must give way to the "prudence" of whomever wields the power.  In the United States, that's the people.

Not quite. In many cases the people have ceded that power to others. County Health officers are one prominent example. They have wide ranging powers that are not easily overcome. This has been deemed necessary by the people because of exactly the effects you point out. In times of serious threat, "the people" probably can't agree on what is "prudent". Historically, people have always understood quarantines are sometimes necessary, until they are the ones to be quarantined. In effect, in this case, the person who is "all powerful" has been defined.

I don't disagree with that as far as County Health officials are concerned.  indeed, the kerfuffle this weekend in Orange County is a good example and kind of proves [or, at least, supports, my point.  People are much more willing to abide by restrictions imposed by their local governmental agency and less so as that agency gets further and further away.

In the current situation, I still chuckle when I imagine the outcry that would have ensued if Trump had announced, in late January or early February -- say in the middle of or immediately after the impeachment hearings -- that he was invoking executive power to order a nationwide shutdown on the scale that many have been [and, indeed, still are] prescribing as absolutely essential in the name of health safety.  The cries of "Dictator!" would have been deafening, impeachment proceedings would have resumed within hours...and all those "idiot protesters" not practicing social distancing would have been massing outside the White House by the millions [very likely with the full on support of mainstream media].