the.com/lockdown
the world's largest experiment in staying still to keep everyone else moving.
means an enforced restriction confining people to a place, usually homes, to stop the spread of danger or contain a threat.
from prison slang from the 1970s for confining inmates to cells after a disturbance, borrowed by schools for active-shooter drills, then handed to the entire planet in 2020.
peak scale3.9 billion people confined simultaneously, april 2020
word surgesearches for lockdown rose 5000 percent overnight
prison originfirst used for riots, not viruses
sourdough spikeflour sales jumped as boredom turned people into bakers
for instance
wuhan 2020 — 76 days sealed, the first city-wide covid lockdown
italy march 2020 — first entire nation locked down, 60 million people
india 2020 — four-hour notice, largest single lockdown, 1.3 billion affected
shanghai 2022 — two months, food shortages sparked rare public anger