France Makes an Impossible Coronavirus Promise
Europe’s governments are better equipped to deal with the second wave of the pandemic, but no one can definitively rule out more general lockdowns.
Who knows what autumn will bring?
Photographer: LUDOVIC MARIN/AFPThe resurgence of the coronavirus in Europe has reignited fears that governments will have to lock down their economies again in the autumn. Some political leaders, including President Emmanuel Macron of France, have rushed to dismiss this possibility, saying the collateral damage from a new bout of confinement would just be too high.
Europe’s second wave of Covid-19 is certainly different — and, so far, less alarming — than the first. There is plenty that politicians and the general public can do to avoid a return to the most draconian measures of March, April and May. Localized lockdowns have been effective in particular towns or regions that suffer sudden infection spikes.