I was early in sounding the Coronavirus alarm, in social distancing, in wearing a mask outside, etc. So perhaps it’s fitting that I also feel ahead of the curve in worrying about what comes next. Alongside more productive work, I’ve been reading a ton on that front over the past few weeks. And while the deep dive has been fascinating, you can save hours of your life by just skimming this Ezra Klein article summarizing the best paths forward for booting back up our country.

Concerningly, we don’t seem to be moving towards any of those solutions. Indeed, we don’t really seem to be doing anything at all, aside from hunkering down, flattening the proverbial curve, and waiting.

But while social distancing is a crucial preparatory step for any decent solution, it’s not a solution in and of itself. It buys time, but that only helps if we use that time to make progress towards some subsequent steps, whether hugely ramped up testing, technology-assisted contact tracing, or whatever else. In the absence of any of those, we can stay home for months, but the pandemic is likely to come roaring back whenever we finally emerge.

In the absence of Federal leadership, private companies are stepping up, and various localities seem to be trying to piece together solutions of their own. But it’s hard to imagine any of those working without the reach, resources, and scale of a national, government-led push. At this point, I see zero sign of that happening, and I don’t have much hope that’s about to change anytime soon.

So, while I’m not sure how long this is all going to last, nor do I have any clear sense of what’s coming next, I’m not feeling optimistic, even if case numbers seem to be plausibly plateauing. I’m making life plans around the assumption that we’ll be in some degree of Coronavirus disaster for at least the next year. Buckle up.