“The coronavirus,” Joe Biden has said, “does not discriminate on the basis of national origin, race, gender, or zip code.”

I can only assume that whoever wrote that line thought it sounded like a nice bit of unifying rhetoric. The ugly truth, though, is some of us are far more vulnerable than others. Health care coverage, ability to stay home, and even access to hand sanitizer vary according to “zip code” (i.e., economic position). The pandemic and the attempts by various institutions to respond to it are exposing the depravities of economic inequality in new ways every day.

While expensive Manhattan prep schools have already canceled classes, New York City’s public schools remain open. New York City public school chancellor Richard A. Carranza reports that one reason they haven’t closed is that 114,000 of their students are homeless. The coronavirus has become an index of social rot.