Science is being used as an excuse to bully people and cause them to have an inordinate fear of the Chinese coronarvirus.

Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum won’t admit it publicly but it’s obvious that he wants a full shutdown of Tulsa – and its suburbs – to curb the pandemic.

Gov. Kevin Stitt bowed to pressure and ordered bars and restaurants to close at 11 p.m. and to put tables six feet apart (or with partitions).

Why is it safer after 11 p.m. than before 11 p.m.?

The answer is that it is not.

There is no public study of the effects of locking down the nation. Common sense dictates that is has an enormous economic crunch. Thousands of small businesses have closed their doors forever and certain industries – including oil and gas – have been crippled.

Older Americans, who are more susceptible to the virus, are ordered to stay indoors and away from people. That has a terrible psychological impact on many seniors.

Families can’t visit relatives in hospitals. People can’t attend funerals. Churches have restricted admission and been forced to have services online.

Officials wanted to cancel Thanksgiving and they want to cancel Christmas. The travel industry has been deeply wounded and it make take 10 years for the airline industry to full recover.

And yet the scientists tell us that social distancing, masks and washing your hands will “slow down” the pandemic.

The problem is that the behavior they want to impose hasn’t really worked because political considerations and power grabs mean more than genuine medical science.