"Power once taken is not returned voluntarily."

Mark Rippetoe writes in part in PJ Media,

...Two things must immediately be considered, not just by the fitness industry but by all businesses having the misfortune to be labeled “non-essential”:

What happens next time a novel disease makes the rounds? One of the facts about life on this planet is that we share it with other life forms, some of which are contagious diseases. It has always been this way, and always will. Some of us will die of contagious disease, and the poorer our health, the greater the likelihood of this happening. Use of the gym makes us healthier and stronger – that's why we do it.

But the government has just shown us exactly what will happen next time such a disease comes along. They have removed all doubt about who decides whether gyms and other “non-essential” businesses are “allowed” to operate. Their owners and the market for their services have been declared irrelevant in favor of the wisdom of mayors, county judges, and governors. In the absence of the passage of very strong laws preventing this very action – perhaps as unlikely an event as the explosion of the sun – these businesses will face periodic arbitrary closure from now on. Power once taken is not returned voluntarily.

In consideration of this, how likely is a bank or an investor to lend money to anybody contemplating the silly idea of opening a “non-essential” business? How likely is a commercial landlord to lease to a business that cannot afford to pay its rent every other winter? Is a nice sit-down restaurant or any bar a viable business under these circumstances? Will all food be take-out from now on, or will Walmart and Home Depot, with their now-incalculably-valuable “essential” status, move into the food-service sector, with restaurants inside their essential stores? The questions boggle the mind.

...This is a catastrophe of our own making. We have responded to a bad situation in a shameful way. Some of us have given up liberty for perceived safety, and some of us have seized power in this undeniably rich opportunity to abuse cowardice. It will be interesting to see how the market responds to such an insult. And it will – it always does.

Read more here.