The Covid-19 pandemic demonstrates the lasting consequences of cutbacks, privatisation and globalisation on healthcare. Political decisions have been central in shaping this tragedy — from the destruction of animal habitats, to
the asymmetric funding of medical research, to the management of the crisis itself. They will also determine the world into which we all emerge after the worst is over.

The coming economic revolution will contribute to a world where freedom is further restricted. Millions of food shops, cafés, cinemas and bookshops have closed to prevent infection. They cannot do home delivery, and are not lucky enough to sell digital products. How many will reopen when the crisis is over, and what state will they be in? The outlook is better for distribution giants like Amazon, which is hiring hundreds of thousands of delivery drivers and warehouse staff, and Walmart, hiring another 150,000 ‘associates’. Who better understands our tastes and choices? This crisis may turn out to be a dress rehearsal for sweeping aside the last resistance to digital capitalism, and the coming of a society without human contact (4).