Coronavirus Lockdowns: What Eight Weeks Have Bought Us

From coast to coast, Americans have put their lives on hold over the past eight weeks. We shut down “nonessential” businesses and placed the nation’s economy in an induced coma until unemployment reached levels on par with those of the Great Depression. We effectively ended the school year in mid March, when schools were closed and the inadequate substitute of “distance learning” was implemented. We delayed almost all “elective” medical care, including everything from joint replacements to treatments for non-life-threatening cancers to cataract surgeries. We have “socially distanced” from friends and relatives, canceled almost all events and travel, and, in some cases, barely left our homes.

That all sounds pretty bleak, and it most certainly is. But there’s good news, too. Those eight weeks of disruption bought us quite a lot in our fight with the coronavirus.

About the Author

Jim Geraghty

Jim Geraghty is the senior political correspondent of National Review.

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From coast to coast, Americans have put their lives on hold over the past eight weeks. We shut down “nonessential” businesses and placed the nation’s economy in an induced coma until unemployment reached levels on par with those of the Great Depression. We effectively ended the school year in mid March, when schools were closed and the inadequate substitute of “distance learning” was implemented. We delayed almost all “elective” medical care, including everything from joint replacements to treatments for non-life-threatening cancers to cataract surgeries. We have “socially distanced” from friends and relatives, canceled almost all events and travel, and, in some cases, barely left our homes.

That all sounds pretty bleak, and it most certainly is. But there’s good news, too. Those eight weeks of disruption bought us quite a lot in our fight with the coronavirus.