Inside of governments and corporations are individuals making all of those decisions. There is a buck and it stops with an individual on a decision, or a couple of individuals at most.

That's how a national emergency gets declared. The President decides to go forward with it. If California declares a state of emergency, it's the governor that has the final say:

https://www.gov.ca.gov/2020/03/04/governor-newsom-declares-s...