Law in the Time of COVID

ABSTRACT

In early January of this year, newspapers started reporting on a mysterious new respiratory disease that was spreading in Wuhan, China. At the time, few paid much attention to that nameless disease. A month later, China was effectively in lockdown;most of the rest of the world was cautious but life continued largely as before. In another month, the virus spread across the globe, and with it the eerie images of deserted streets. Our university shut its doors on March 13, 2020, after a week of increasing pandemic anxiety in Toronto. As we write this in December, it is still largely shuttered. The prognosis for the upcoming winter semester remains bleak Another term where Osgoode remains closed, and the normally bustling and life-affirming hallways, library, cafeteria, offices, classrooms and atrium, stay silent and still.