While it's right to be concerned about government overreach in response to #COVID19, I'm not convinced all of these are due to conspiracy.

Many local governments might be engaged in #COVID19 overreach not due to conspiracy, but feeling out of control.

When people feel out of control, they engage in all sorts of destructive behaviors - emotional outbursts, drug abuse, eating disorders, etc.

No reason to assume government officials don't have the same psychology.

When someone feels out of control in their personal life, they do destructive things like yell at their kids.

When a government feels out of control, the same feeling might motivate pointless arrests, enforcement of arbitrary rules, punishing behavior, etc.

People assume actions like filling a skate park with sand have a rational motivation, like a conspiracy to seize power through oppression.

https://www.ocregister.com/2020/04/16/san-clemente-skate-park-filled-with-sand-to-keep-skaters-at-bay/

Isn't a non-rational explanation (like an emotional outburst due to feeling out of control) more likely?

Do most people you know act from long-term rational plans or emotional patterns formed in childhood?

Why would those in government be any different?

Where people see governments acting in conspiracy to take their rights, I see people who feel out of control and take it out their kids (or citizens).

Most elected officials can't even do their job on a good day. How out of control do you think they feel during a global pandemic?

One of the models I use to understand the world is trauma: People develop emotional patterns during childhood that they continue to play out if unhealed.

This does not stop at the halls of power.

“I feel out of control” —> “I’m going to yell at my kids so I feel powerful over something.”
“I feel out of control” —> “I’m going to make all my citizens wear masks and track their movements so powerful over something.”

Same mindset.

Conspiracy theorists see the government as run by evil geniuses. Isn't it both worse and more plausible to see them as out of control emotional cripples?

Seeing power holders as human doesn't excuse their behavior, but it does change your approach to solving it.

If you're dealing with a rational actor, appeal to reason. If it's non-rational, a very different approach is needed.