Social distancing is here to stay for much more than a few weeks. It will upend our way of life, in some ways forever.

Written by Gideon Lichfield

Editor in Chief | MIT Tech REView

Article originally published by MIT Technology Review

To stop coronavirus we will need to radically change almost everything we do: how we work, exercise, socialize, shop, manage our health, educate our kids, take care of family members.

We all want things to go back to normal quickly. But what most of us have probably not yet realized—yet will soon—is that things won’t go back to normal after a few weeks, or even a few months. Some things never will.

It’s now widely agreed (even by Britain, finally) that every country needs to “flatten the curve”: impose social distancing to slow the spread of the virus so that the number of people sick at once doesn’t cause the health-care system to collapse, as it is threatening to do in Italy right now. That means the pandemic needs to last, at a low level, until either enough people have had Covid-19 to leave most immune (assuming immunity lasts for years, which we don’t know) or there’s a vaccine.

How long would that take, and how draconian do social restrictions need to be? Yesterday President Donald Trump, announcing new guidelines such as a 10-person limit on gatherings, said that “with several weeks of focused action, we can turn the corner and turn it quickly.” In China, six weeks of lockdown are beginning to ease now that new cases have fallen to a trickle.

But it won’t end there . . .

What is World Federalism?

World Federal Government (WFG)

Original Publisher

MIT Technology Review

Gideon Lichfield is the MIT Technology Review’s editor in chief. My journalism career has run the gamut from writing about science to covering Latin America, the former Soviet Union, and Israel/Palestine. I helped launch the digital news outlet Quartz, and I joined TR in 2017. My mission is for it to be the leading voice on emerging technology, its impacts, and the human choices that lie behind it.

Related Articles

LIST of Articles for DWF NEWS 12/18/24

Do Israeli Zionists control Congress and the President? Who the Hell Is In Charge Here? If Trump Submits to Israeli Control Just as Biden Did, We Need a Revolution Philip Giraldi   Global Research How the US & Israel Destroyed Syria and Called It Peace Jeffrey...

LIST of Articles DWF NEWS 12/5/24

Breaking down the US opposition to International Law The US Raises a Middle Finger to the International Criminal Court Vijay Prashad       TRANSCEND Media Service   US Could Deal Death Blow to International Law Marjorie Cohn      Truthout   ICC President...

LIST for DWF NEWS Articles 11/14/24

Genocidal Scorecard  DEATH MARCHES & TORTURE CAMPS Chris Hedges    Scheerpost Israel accused of silencing journalists by killing them The Middle East and the Journalist's Fate Viktor Mikhin     THE INTEL DROP Scandinavians, the World's Happiest People, Love...

Solving Global Problems

We can work together to make the world better

Share This