I think the flip-flopping is a sign that the evidence here is not particularly strong one way or another. Of course people like more certain answers, especially with high consequence problems, but sometimes that is not the way the world is.
My own view is that without high confidence evidence, it is best not to coerce other people to do things they don’t freely choose to do - in other words - err of the side of freedom.
That is of course not what many Governors chose to do.
