A pandemic — we have learned — has three phases. There is an emergency phase, when a wave of casualties threatens to overwhelm the medical system. The immediate priority at that point is to forestall disaster, to succor the ill and to provide essential supplies.
Then there is containment, the goal of which is to break the chain of transmission and bring the epidemic under control. In this phase the social priorities are two-fold: to maintain a large share of the population in secure quarantine while ensuring a steady flow of essential supplies, especially food, and of basic public services such as electricity, water, and sanitation, for as long as required to subdue the virus, or until there is an effective therapy or a vaccine.
Finally, there will be an aftermath – a third stage when the economic consequences will unfold. These will demand we make far-reaching decisions, for good or evil – that we choose between disaster capitalism, maintained by violence, and a radical social and economic renewal.
