BRUSSELS — The “gilded museum” of Europe is hollow and echoing. The great squares and stadiums are empty, the museums shut, the churches hesitant about services, the fine restaurants and cool bars shuttered. The coronavirus is not only spreading, but also infecting societies with a sense of insecurity, fear and fragmentation. Above all, it has severed humanity from its conceit of control and of the invincibility of its institutions, science, technology and democracies. Today, Europeans are told to hide away, erecting borders between countries, inside their cities and neighborhoods, around their homes — to protect themselves from their neighbors, even from their grandchildren.

Source: New York Times March 15, 2020 17:14 UTC