Debraj Ray (NYU) and Sreenivasan Subramanian (Chennai, India) write a very powerful critique of India's COVID-19 lockdown policy, that rings true much more broadly. Lockdowns and social distancing can at best slow down the progression of the pandemic, and that at a cost. Medical and economic resources need to be created and mobilised to face the longer-run and deeper issues originating from the crisis, and not many governments are working in this direction.