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Lockdowns Have Brought Breathing Space. We Can’t Afford To Waste It.

As the United States and Australia continues to struggle to contain a record number of coronavirus cases, European countries have been focused on returning to some sense of normalcy. Bars, restaurants and shops have been reopening. Travel restrictions have been lifted. Workers are commuting to their offices, and tourists are slowly returning to beach resorts and other popular destinations.

In the United Kingdom, the number of coronavirus cases has largely remained flat over the last few weeks, even as the country loosens its lockdown restrictions, and Prime Minister Boris Johnson has outlined a potential timeline that would see most remaining constraints on daily life — including social distancing — lifted by the fall.

“It is my strong and sincere hope that we will be able to review the outstanding restrictions and allow a more significant return to normality from November at the earliest — possibly in time for Christmas,” Johnson said on Friday.

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The ability to even imagine such a rosy scenario is due to the immense sacrifices that millions of people across Europe have made since national lockdowns were implemented in March, as well as the broad cooperation between scientists and politicians on how to tackle the virus’s first wave.

But it also comes with a large sense of foreboding. Globally, more than 600,000 people have died as a result of the coronavirus, and the pandemic shows little sign of letting up. Indeed, doctors and scientists warn that the fall and winter months could be even deadlier, as colder weather forces people to spend more time indoors and the combination of...

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