ABSTRACT
Covid-19 threatened to overwhelm the health system of every state. The crisis in the Chinese province of Wuhan, in Iran and in Northern Italy showed what might happen. Increasingly, it appeared that this virus had a relatively low mortality rate (around 1%, perhaps even lower). But it was highly infectious. Initial numbers from China and Italy suggested that as many as 20% of those infected might need hospitalisation, and perhaps 10% would need intensive care and ventilation. The problem with Covid-19, then, was not essentially its complete novelty. This was not a virus like AIDS. Public order is a key terrain of the sovereign order’s reaction to the pandemic. As governments mutter about the need for draconian austerity after the crisis, an ambience seems to grow.
