Coronavirus: Nations classify what is ‘essential’ during lockdown with some US states choosing guns and cannabis

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. “Recent events clearly demonstrate that the process of designating ‘essential services’ is as much about culture as any legal-political reality about what is necessary to keep society functioning,” said Christopher McKnight Nichols, associate professor of history at Oregon State University, in the US. The decision to classify cannabis as ‘essential’ so residents can leave homes to purchase it while on lockdown has caused some backlash The world’s dependency on the internet has become even more apparent as countless people confined to their homes communicate, stream movies and play games online to stave off cabin fever. “It is the very definition of essential that these individuals can still access their medicine at this time.” Connecticut governor Ned Lamont added gun shops to his list of essential businesses, generating shock and dismay among families of gun violence victims. Aimee Huff, a marketing professor at Oregon State University, specialising in consumer culture, said: “In times of uncertainty, institutions and practices that are central to the cultural identities can become really important touchstones, material markers of certainty, comfort, and mechanisms to persist.” In China, authorities closed most businesses and public facilities beginning in late January but kept open hospitals, supermarkets and pharmacies.