I am surprised there hasn't be a bigger spotlight shed on the concepts developped by Michel Foucault around Biopower [0] and the genesis of the modern state.
See for example this excerpt of Discipline and punish [1] on what quarantine was like:
"First, a strict spatial partitioning: the closing of the town and its outlying districts, a prohibition to leave the town on pain of death, the killing of all stray animals; the division of the town into distinct quarters, each governed by an intendant. Each street is placed under the authority of a syndic, who keeps it under surveillance; if he leaves the street, he will be condemned to death."
"First, a strict spatial partitioning: the closing of the town and its outlying districts, a prohibition to leave the town on pain of death, the killing of all stray animals; the division of the town into distinct quarters, each governed by an intendant. Each street is placed under the authority of a syndic, who keeps it under surveillance; if he leaves the street, he will be condemned to death."
[0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biopower
[1]https://foucault.info/documents/foucault.disciplineAndPunish...