5: Conclusion

The greatest confinement in history due to the coronavirus pandemic continues as we finish this book. Around the world, national, regional and local lockdowns are in full swing, and authorities are kept on their toes to avoid catastrophic public health and economic impact. Just as harrowingly as Daniel Defoe reported on plague in seventeenth-century London, people globally are being shut up in their homes, for better or worse, often for worse until a time when a successful vaccine or therapeutic regime can remove the threat. As the death rate mounts and political tensions intensify, we are all left wondering about the future and what kind of ‘new normal’ will emerge.