Van Gogh painting stolen from museum during coronavirus shutdown: The nonmedical consequences of COVID-19 and the response of reasonable faith

Vincent van Gogh painted “Lentetuin,” or “Spring Garden,” in 1884. As you can see, the great artist depicted a woman in a garden with red-flowered bushes and a church building in the background. The painting is estimated to be worth between one million and six million euros.

This morning, the director of the Netherlands museum where the painting was on loan announced that it had been stolen overnight. “I am shocked and absolutely livid that this has happened,” he said. Police stated that thieves “entered by breaking through the glass doors” and “were gone by the time police responded to the alarm.” 

Dutch museums have been closed since March 12 because of the coronavirus outbreak. The theft is just one example of the pandemic’s ever-widening consequences. 

“The coronavirus has seized our autonomy” 

Here’s another: isolation and anxiety regarding COVID-19 may be acting as triggers for those in recovery, especially when coupled with canceled Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meetings. We may see a rise in drug and alcohol relapses as a result. 

And another: according to Time, “As the physical coronavirus pandemic continues to spread, an emotional pandemic is following fast in its wake.” The article notes that “doctors are reporting both new anxieties among existing patients, and relapses among former ones.” 

The Federalist reports that nine people died from suicide within forty-eight hours in Knox County, Tennessee, last week. That’s more people than had died so far from coronavirus in the entire state. 

As USA Today notes, the pandemic is affecting us all: “It has stolen school from the kids and hard-earned graduation ceremonies. It has delayed trips and weddings and even funerals. It has taken dreams from athletes training for the…