3. In the U.K., Boris Johnson’s top adviser is implicated in a social-distancing scandal.
Dominic Cummings, an architect of the Brexit campaign, appears to have broken lockdown laws.
“For Johnson and his team, a touch more Churchillian circumspection—rather than just bulldog bravado—might have saved them a lot of the moral and political authority they might need in the coming months,” Tom McTague reports from our London bureau.
One question, answered: Is everyone depressed right now?
Our staff writer (and a doctor) James Hamblin takes a look:
Feelings of numbness, powerlessness, and hopelessness are now so common as to verge on being considered normal. But what we are seeing is far less likely an actual increase in a disease of the brain than a series of circumstances that is drawing out a similar neurochemical mix.
But this makes the processes of identifying and treating depression pretty confusing, Jim explains:
Suddenly, many people meet the criteria for clinical depression. Doctors are scrambling to determine who needs urgent intervention, and who is simply the new normal.
What to read if … you just want practical advice:
Tonight’s Atlantic-approved quarantine activity:
For those with a frazzled attention span, our critic Sophie Gilbert recommends indulging in a 30-minute show. Tonight, try Better Things:
Pamela Adlon’s FX series about an actor and a single mother raising three daughters in Los Angeles just wrapped its fourth season, and the show has never been better, more creative, or more perfectly tuned to the cacophony of family life.
What to read if … you’d like to read about something—anything—other than the coronavirus:
My colleague Sarah Zhang has a new feature on America’s never-ending battle against flesh-eating worms.
View all of our stories related to the coronavirus outbreak here. Did you get a pandemic puppy? Are you actively looking for one right now? Tell us about your experience.
We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to letters@theatlantic.com.
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