WWII-Like Mobilization Thrusts Private Sector Into Virus Fight

The U.K. government invoked wartime mobilization to track down ventilators. South African officials seized a hotel and turned it into a quarantine center. U.S. President Donald Trump can now order the private sector to ramp up output of gear for doctors and nurses. He hasn’t yet, but companies, their businesses suddenly in tatters, are jumping in with acts of altruism and self-preservation.

The Covid-19 crisis has reminded many in the U.S. of the dark days after Sept. 11. It is swiftly coming to resemble those after Pearl Harbor, when a Japanese attack drove a reluctant nation into World War II. ...