It's fairly easy to reason about the factors that go into the spread of the disease. We have diligent data from Japan, Korea, Spain, and Italy. All show infection curves with very similar shapes along the same timelines. What's more, we can see how quarantining measures have benefited Japan and Korea. Not to mention that the spread of infectious diseases, especially the flu, has been studying quite heavily with modern scientific methods for over a century.

It is far more likely that these measures are being taken because they have been proven effective to prevent harm to citizens, than as a conspiracy to destroy small businesses.

This disease is both very infectious and relatively very deadly. We know that the death rate can double or triple if emergency health care is not available. We also know that without dramatic quarantining measures, the number of people requiring emergency care will overwhelm our health care capacity.

I am a San Francisco resident, and I am grateful that my local government is taking action. I agree with Mayor Breed's assessment that the federal government's response is terrible.