Inside STAT: What's a lockdown and who can call one?

POWELL STREET IN SAN FRANCISCO. (JUSTIN SULLIVAN/GETTY IMAGES)

Social distancing. Shelter in place. Lockdown. Quarantine. All four measures have different but sometimes overlapping meanings as public health and government officials grapple with a widening coronavirus pandemic. China was the first to order a lockdown, Italy followed, and France will join with its own restrictions today. As of Monday, six counties in California's San Francisco Bay Area represent the lockdown vanguard for the U.S. STAT's Nicholas Florko asks if this could this happen across the country, and if so, who decides? Is it constitutional? Or ethical? Read his questions and some answers here.