How Long Will Lockdowns Last? Probably Through Mid to Late May.

In Nepal, police use this device to arrest lockdown violators.Skanda Gautam/ZUMA

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How long will we have to remain on lockdown? There doesn’t appear to be any sure answer, but based on various expert testimony it looks to me like a good guess is 8-10 weeks. In the US, lockdowns started around March 20, which would mean they’d start getting lifted in mid to late May. If anyone knows of a better expert prediction, leave it in comments.

By the way, compared to Europe our lockdowns are sort of feeble. Aside from plain old tougher rules, there are two reasons for this. First, European lockdowns are generally countrywide, not just here and there wherever a governor or mayor happens to want one. Second, lockdowns are enforced by police and military and there are big fines for breaking the lockdown rules. Check out this Politico piece to get a sense of just how seriously European governments take the whole thing.

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In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

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