Over the past week, protesters across the US have held demonstrations to demand “l(fā)iberation” from lockdown measures brought in by states to contain the spread of the Covid-19 virus.

Fuelled by a belief that the economy must reopen to protect the health of people’s businesses, these public gatherings (often attended by anti-vaxxers and far-right activists) make for colourful television pictures — and divisive social media messages that President Donald Trump has been only too happy to promote. But as these protests swell, sparking counter-protests from America’s medical establishment, the issue raises an intriguing question: is there a limit to how much containing a pandemic should cost?

Many of you — including doctors — might howl “No!” to such a notion. Certainly, the value of a human life cannot be measured only with economics. And Covid-19 is so new that it is hard to model its trajectory. In New Zealand, however, one of the country’s leading think-tanks has ventured into this moral minefield.