Deprived of social contact, we suffer. This is why social isolation inspires the unpleasant feeling of “loneliness,” and why long-term social isolation can be truly traumatic and severely compromise our health.

Some of the shock absorbers—from faith to family—that helped us cope with setbacks in the past have atrophied. It’s possible that a new basis of solidarity is slowly coming into view in which we are bound together by a new set of shared risks: the risk of loneliness and isolation; the risk of mental illness; the risk of being left behind. But these