THERE IS SOMETHING VERY ABSURD IN SUPPOSING A CONTINENT TO BE PERPETUALLY GOVERNED BY AN ISLAND.

That's from Thomas Paine's Common Sense, which was a different sort of complaint about a different sort of Sovereign.  The sentiment, though, is still germane, particularly as the governors of populous states with big cities apply strict restrictions on human interaction that well might be useful in containing contagion in thickly settled areas that at the same time seem excessive in the hinterlands.  Here we are, on the 245th anniversary of Paul Revere's Ride, with some of the slogans and flags of the era being displayed in protests against what seem like arbitrary and capricious acts by public officials who render those protesting "in their present situation they are prisoners without the hope of redemption."

But it's easy enough to add a map of Wuhan coronavirus cases over a map like this.

Moreover, it's not difficult to use the public statistics on cases and deaths to produce a disaggregation making it clear how different a continent is from an island.  (Yes, even if the supposedly national news of the legacy networks might as well be the Manhattan evening news these days.)  "Downstate [meaning greater New York City] has been so heavily impacted by the coronavirus that it skews the United States when you compare us to the rest of the world."  The per capita death rate in the New York metropolitan area is the highest in the known world, meaning the data from China and other countries known to be prevaricating is suspect.

But governing the entire continent as if it is an island isn't helping.

What this tells us is that there shouldn't be a one-size-fits-all approach to social distancing or reopening the country. I feel pretty safe where I live, but because I'm in New York State, and Governor Cuomo is treating the whole state like it is downstate, I have to abide by the same statewide restrictions. Further, if the media ever chose to look at the country's numbers the way I have, they'd see that the overwhelming majority of the country is doing much, much better than it appears to be when you include downstate New York in our numbers. The media wants you to believe that President Trump botched the federal government's response to the coronavirus. This is clearly not true. Even with downstate's tallies we don't lead the world in cases or deaths per capita. Treating downstate as its own country shows just how much local leadership impacts containment and mitigation.

The argument generalizes.

[Illinois governor] J.B. Pritzker has spent countless hours plotting and planning strategy in the state’s race against the COVID-19 pandemic. Those who live in central and southern Illinois have noticed he’s done it almost exclusively from Chicago.

Chicago and Cook County account for 70% of the state’s more-than 24,500 infections. But some people — mostly Republicans — complain that he’s neglected the rest of Illinois, even as it shares in the economic pain and social disruption from measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Thursday marked Pritzker’s 40th daily televised update, and the 29th in a row from his office in downtown Chicago.

The story also notes, "Michigan’s Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, staring down one of the nation’s coronavirus hot spots in Detroit, has worked mostly from the capital, Lansing." Yes, and she has forbidden Michigan residents from fleeing to their vacation cottages, although fleeing Illinoisans can still go to Michigan (and bring their plague with them?)

Perhaps in the same way that the national government has delegated the decision to ease up on lockdowns to the states, the governors ought delegate the nature of local lockdowns to the counties.  I submit the authorities ought to act soon. Last week, I wrote, "The stakes are pretty high: if public officials, whether in the White House, state Capitols, or the various city halls, can't make clear what the exit strategy looks like, and what the benchmarks are, their failure to do so will lead to civil disobedience, and, just like any other exponential process, it will be just a little at first, then all at once."  I was thinking of a smaller beginning: a few kids open the tot-lot on a nice day without the parents or police objecting, or some young people playing volleyball on a notionally closed beach, or tavernkeepers in a strip defying the authorities and open.  It's happening a lot faster, and earlier this week I heard somebody asking whether anyone had modelled the length of the lines at the food banks.