business owners shut down voluntarily?
Absolutely. Thousands of them.
No one forced the NBA, NHL, concert promoters, etc. etc. to shut down.
If you look back to early/mid 2020 you’ll see all kinds of businesses voluntarily shutting down.
If for no other reason than their customers weren’t about to go out in public.
Biz owners were bought off.
And rather than stand together and fight, they took their bribes and knuckled under.