People like doing the things that were necessarily restricted by public health measures – whether that's visiting family and friends, going to a restaurant or even (for some people at least) going to the gym. The result is a sharp recovery in output and employment, far sharper than most of us would have dared imagine a year ago (Graph 5).
This is very different from the pattern of past downturns. They were  triggered by other events, including issues in the financial system. Those events weakened privatesector balance sheets and so weighed on confidence and demand for extended periods. As a result, the recoveries were drawn out.