The Lingo of Lockdown

In America,"Lockdown" conjures up rioting prisoners getting shoved back into their cells, usually in solitary. Or  Jody Foster behind that steel door in Panic Room, trying to fend off marauders. "Lockdown" conveys grim, toxic masculinity. But in England--in Europe--the term is neutral, descriptive, even reassuring. For Americans, "Sheltering in Place" sounds more romantic. Kind of like an actual choice instead of an absolute necessity. As if we were dreamily basking in our solitude instead of exulting when Amazon finally has toilet paper again for a somewhat reasonable price. "Sheltering in place" is a mermaid in an underground cave, waiting for her prince to swim in so the two of them can flipper their way through the ocean instead of staying at the back of the cave where they belong.
Meanwhile, I sit home reveling in lockdown, but fashioning a face mask from a piece of vinyl report cover. I'll wear it when I have to go to the doctor's office in a few weeks.
If they still have doctor's offices in a few weeks. Will we have consumed our last can of beans? Will I be planting vegetables in our back yard--and trying to keep the local moles and mice from eating all of them?
Or will those teenagers partying in Florida miraculously avoid infecting everyone and will things go back to some kind of normal? It's been a long time since we had a plague to which everyone can relate. Ronald Reagan pandered to the 25%-and-growing number of Evangelical Americans when he allowed AIDS to be considered God's punishment to sinners. This plague is different--anyone who sneezes can pass it on. You don't have to do anything dirty for which people can blame you to catch it. 
But herding people into their homes is easier to do in rule-abiding societies, like Germany. Or totalitarian ones, like China. I've heard tell of French citizens spitting at policemen who tell them to go home; like the oblivious partying Spring Break crowd in Florida, these Liberté-Egalité-Fraternité types are a thing of the West--the part of the world most prone to mistaking precautionary measures as infringements on personal freedoms. 
These current concerns--personal freedoms and social safety--have their precedent:
I do hope this reminds the party crowd that they are dancing with the devil, aka death. 
Or how about this--

Might as well close with Wikipedia's reminder to stay home, and contemplate the bad old days:
The deathly horrors of the 14th century such as recurring famines, the Hundred Years' War in France, and, most of all, the Black Death, were culturally assimilated throughout Europe. The omnipresent possibility of sudden and painful death increased the religious desire for penance, but it also evoked a hysterical desire for amusement while still possible; a last dance as cold comfort. The danse macabre combines both desires: in many ways similar to the mediaeval mystery plays, the dance-with-death allegory was originally a didactic dialogue poem to remind people of the inevitability of death and to advise them strongly to be prepared at all times for death (see memento mori and Ars moriendi).