“So basically for the majority of business owners, the CDC was THE authority on this”
True, but it’s not necessarily ‘trust’, it’s liability. If they are doing what the government says, they’re basically immune from being sued. But if they do less (such as ignore social distancing), and someone gets sick, they get sued by their employees. If they do more, and shut down early, then they get sued by shareholders.
It sucks, but it all filters up to the government, but not necessarily because they trust the government to be right.
Right, it’s legal authority, whether they agreed with it or not.