There are points at which is is right for the state to intervene in the behaviour of its citizens. Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, that point was at the very start of the outbreak, when government intervention could've made a real difference. As the crisis develops, and in its aftermath, we must be alert to attempts to use this crisis as an reason to expand state influence.

SUGGESTED READING Groundbreaking economics at HowTheLightGetsIn By Plagues, wars, and other tumults of course have always been with us.  Until the late 20^th century, war and its equivalents did not lead to permanently bigger and more illiberal government.  Not much.  The U.K. after 1815 reduced state power, initiating the great age of true liberalism.  Yet after a similar putting down of weapons in 1945, state power increased.  In the U.S. during the War to End All Wars, President Wilson took up tyrannical powers with gusto, by for example using state propaganda to whip up anti-Hun feeling, and to suppress news of the “Spanish” Influenza.