I've seen a lot of people angry about this, but this sort of thing is inevitable. You have to give people notice about lockdowns and transport closures; if you don't, you strand people (which can promote viral spread). If you do, this bunching happens.
https://twitter.com/HarrietClugston/status/1340383304143540227
And I do ask the people who are furious about this: Are you proposing gunning them down? Because that's about the only way you could alter these inevitable crowd dynamics. People will want to go where they feel safest--rationally or irrationally.
From a policy perspective, the best thing to do is to account for the inevitability. But you can't avoid it; it's a natural human response to what is, always, a frightening announcement. dw.com/en/coronavirus…
This, by the way, is the reason curfews are a terrible idea from a pandemic control perspective. They bunch people up at the beginning and end of the curfew. Not exactly great for social distancing.
With a lockdown, the benefits dramatically outweigh that cost, of course. You get viral spread from bunching, but the lockdown suppresses far more over time. Still, if you act shocked that people are scrambling to catch the last plane/train I don't know what to tell you.
And this is quite right too. The shorter notice your announcement, the more panic you create, the larger crowds you get. See what happened in India ahead of its first national shutdown.
https://twitter.com/teknomantik/status/1340477261397458945
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