England has begun a second national lockdown, after weeks of regional restrictions failed to curb the spread of the coronavirus. The UK government didn’t follow suggestions made by scientific advisers in September to institute a shorter lockdown weeks earlier, intended to halt the exponential growth of coronavirus cases.

This new lockdown is needed to stop the spread of the virus, but it and similar efforts across Europe may be too late to prevent the second wave of covid-19 being worse than the first.

“It’s pretty bleak,” says Paul …