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Coronavirus Surges Taxing Europe, Prompting Fears of Social Unrest

Jamie Dettmer

   LONDON - European governments are scrambling to shape radical plans to
   cope with a second wave of coronavirus contagion, expected to unfold
   later in the year. The current infection spikes some countries are
   experiencing is not a second wave, but the playing out of the first
   wave of the pandemic, according to some officials and experts in
   infectious diseases.

   Governments are desperate to avoid imposing nationwide lockdowns, or
   shutting down already grievously damaged economies.

   Britain's Boris Johnson has said a second blanket shutdown would be
   akin to detonating a nuclear explosion. To avoid that, Britain's ruling
   Conservatives are considering ordering all people over the age of 50
   years old to remain at home, if a second wave starts unfolding.

   That proposal has prompted the fury of the country's tabloid press,
   whose readers tend to be the over-fifties. The Daily Mail newspaper
   said the move would be "ageist." It warned such a strategy was flawed
   because it failed to recognize the important contribution older workers
   make to the economy and risks stigmatizing the elderly.

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