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Coronavirus' lessons in home building and development leadership, among other things, are about the power of isolation, whose roots in French and Latin mean "made into an island."

As individuals.

As households of people, confined--more or less quarantined--to homes.

As firms, whose peers comprise a secular business community.

As a body politic.

As consumer sentiment takes a hit, and we wonder whether it can and will rebound in the next four weeks, or eight weeks, or longer, we need to look at these multiple levels of ourselves for both our separateness and our inseparability. Instincts to use both lenses seem both healthy and natural at a moment one might feel to be unbearable, while another may sense to be a mere bother.

“Consumers’ reactions to relaxing restrictions will be critical, either putting further pressure on states to reopen their economies, or exerting added pressure to extend the restrictions even if it has negative consequences for economic prospects,” said Richard Curtin, chief economist for the Surveys of Consumers, in a statement. “The risks associated with these decisions are not equally balanced, with an incorrect decision to reopen having serious repercussions.”

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