I think Ducey's action, done at the behest of big-city Mayors, is stupid as applied here in Mohave County. My city has exactly one COVID patient. One. But all restaurants are closed.
Gov. DeWine and Mayor Ginther of Columbus shut down the Arnold Classic (Schwartzenegger fitness gathering), March 4, before the first cases were diagnosed on March 9. There were none here, but epimiologists knew the virus had been seeded in Ohio.
Because of that, 250,000 people from around the world did NOT gather together in the State Capitol, and because of that and social distancing orders - schools, bars, restaurants closed - put in place earlier than any other state, the number of cases in Ohio is significantly lower......... less than 5,000........ rather than any of the projected models.
It may be stupid in Mojave County because of lack of population density (though I doubt it), but those orders are saving thousands of people from suffering and sometimes dying.
Think of it as evacuating before a hurricane, and it makes more sense. This is a very real storm (naysayers claims notwithstanding), and getting people out of danger is the responsible thing to do. Because Ohio's leaders thought everything through early on, though I am in the 7th most populous state in the country, I am much, much safer than I would have been without the measures they put in place early on (think Michigan).
This is not a "police state." This is shelter in a time of storm. Just like in 1918, when the threat is abating, the rules will be relaxed, and no one's freedom will suffer in the long term, but maybe their lives will be saved. (In leftist run states, they haven't had freedom before this, so what the goofy Governors are doing there is a non-starter in terms of debate. They're totalitarian states to begin with).
The closing of the Arnold Classic was a terribly difficult decision, but wise people made that call, and we are safer for it.
