Interesting papers were given were given at an online symposium on 24 April 2020 hosted by the BSA. Much current discourse is cast in epidemiological terms, while this event firmly returned to the development of a sociological analysis. In order of speaking: Nik Brown drew useful comparisons between the present situation and how people experiencing cystic fibrosis manage their treatments and lives. Ipek Demir discussed the initial failure to take the levels of risk associated with the coronavirus seriously. Bridget Anderson’s presentation was concerned with the present emphasis on the nation and different ways of ‘joining the nation’, with the irony that many of those concerned do not have full citizenship rights and permanency. Susan Halford’s presentation was concerned with the possibility of new futures and seeing the pandemic as a kind of portal to a number of potential futures, both enabling and damaging. Danny Dorling situated the unfolding statistical statements about infections and deaths in the context of long-term trends involving both accelerations and de-accelerations. A podcast of this excellent event, chaired by Sue Scott, is available on the BSA website and on YouTube from here. Liz Stanley