But COVID-19 is much more than a health crisis. The virus has unleashed socioeconomic effects that have devastated lives and livelihoods beyond just health, undoing decades of global progress in fighting poverty, disease, and violence in one year. The unprecedented extent of socioeconomic damage inflicted during peace time by COVID-19 is captured in Table 1, which compares the growth outcomes in the largest economies in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa during the global financial crisis (GFC) in 2008–09 and the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The GDP growth rates (in percent) in 2009 and 2020 were, respectively, −2.5 and −3.4 in the United States; −0.1 and −4.5 in Brazil; −2.9 and −9.0 in France; −5.4 and −9.2 in Japan; and −1.5 and −7.5 in South Africa.