It's my opinion that the push for a dramatic reaction was based primarily in an effort to portray Trump as being uncaring, and ineffective. The secondary reason was then based on public health issues. Consider that Trump did react forcefully when no one was really paying attention by shutting down travel to China at the end of January, and he was criticized for it. But if the US has a relatively low death rate, and a relatively short outbreak period, every politician will claim credit. If it goes haywire, they will blame Trump.
“I don’t believe those who are responsible for the overreaction will have any blow back. “
They wont if this idiocy ends before the business affected are crippled. Once the business’ fail and the jobs are gone and the rents come due...