As the coronavirus pandemic has hollowed out our lives and ravaged our society, we've experienced and then measured the devastation left in its wake. First, the new cases, hospitalizations and deaths became a daily reporting exercise, and then we began to focus on positivity rates and the graphics illustrating the growth or decline of infections over time. All obvious, and easily but painfully, quantified consequences of the disease.

Similarly, when the spread of the virus and the resulting shutdowns that were implemented in an effort to control it began to take their toll on the economy, the damage was again obvious and easily measured, using all the usual economic indicators, such as increases in unemployment levels and decreases in the GDP.