In March 2020, officials called for a lockdown across most of the country due to COVID-19. Schools closed, businesses were shuttered, and public life came to a screeching halt. The initial plan was “15 days to slow the spread,” but this timeline eventually stretched into several weeks, and then months. Now, several states and major cities are locking down again, forcing a culture and economy already starved for social interaction to stay separated indefinitely. The stated goal of these restrictive measures is to contain a potentially lethal illness until the threat of COVID-19 is eradicated. But there are painful side effects to this strategy: suicide and mental health problems, drug overdoses, domestic abuse, the destruction of small businesses, unemployment, hunger, and poverty. Yet medical experts and policymakers say, despite the pain we’ve endured so far, even greater sacrifice is necessary, as the constant rise in COVID-19 case numbers confirm. In …