When open and closed look the same, the argument is one without a distinction as long as we keep using the wrong framing

Pertinent to my earlier post about changing the frame from opening or closing to broad versus targeted containments. When mobility is the same between an "open" state versus a "closed" state, then the distinction is not about open or closed but about the nature and pattern of the travel.

A lot of evidence suggests that formal re-opening policies are only loosely correlated with people's behavior.

Tennessee (+8%) and Kentucky (+8%) score exactly the same on Apple's mobility tracker even though Tennessee is "open" and Kentucky is "closed". https://t.co/32iSFYgSGd

— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) May 10, 2020