I've seen more and more suggestions out there that this level of quarantine will continue either until we have a vaccine, or until we've built up herd immunity by fighting off wave after wave of this virus, and I'm not sure humans are capable of voluntarily confining themselves like that. I've been on lockdown four weeks now and am already feeling the strain.

A conference I was supposed to teach at this fall has just canceled, and another one in November is making noises in that direction. It's clear we're bracing ourselves for a continuation of the nightmare. Maybe from a disease standpoint, it's necessary. I'm just not sure we can manage.