The past week has made obvious just how quickly the two countries’ stories are diverging. On Sunday night, Queen Elizabeth II addressed the nation: a sign of the seriousness of the situation, and a reminder of the strength and solidarity that Britain is still capable of. “Together we are tackling this disease, and I want to reassure you that if we remain united and resolute, then we shall overcome it,” the 93-year-old monarch told the country. She invoked her experience of the home front during World War II and Britain’s national character, saying “the attributes of self-discipline, of quiet good-humored resolve and of fellow-feeling still characterize this country.” The contrast with President Trump’s daily news briefings is so stark that it feels unkind to point it out.

Hours later, Britain learned that its prime minister, Boris Johnson, had been admitted to the hospital, more than a week after he had tested positive for Covid-19. By Monday, his health had deteriorated further, and he was moved to an intensive care unit and given oxygen. It was shocking news for a country braced for the worst of the coronavirus outbreak.

With Johnson now out of the ICU and, judging by the latest indications from the British government, on the road to recovery in St. Thomas’ Hospital, across the river from Westminster, the health of the country and the health of its political leader feel connected. Grim though it has been to contemplate the worst-case scenario, it is also a sobering reminder that politics is fundamentally about public service by and for real people, not the performative act it has felt like in recent years. Political foes and ordinarily hostile public figures have been unambiguous in their concern for Johnson. You had to search the wildest fringes of political debate to find anything remotely nasty or mean-spirited. (One suspects you wouldn’t need to look as hard were Trump to fall seriously ill.)

This good will isn’t just a product of the virus: It coincides with the departure last weekend of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the Labour Party. The leader of the opposition is an essential figure in the everyday functioning of the British constitution. Since 2015, that position has been occupied by someone who has spent his career battling to undermine many of the country’s most important institutions and who stood by while the poison of anti-Semitism spread in his party. Labour’s new leader, Sir Keir Starmer, a litigator and former chief prosecutor who has worked within the machine his predecessor raged against, has already added ballast to British public life at a time when it is sorely needed.

Many world leaders have seen the rally-around-the-flag boost to their polling numbers that you might expect in a time of acute crisis, but no one’s approval rating has risen more dramatically than Johnson’s. According to polling by Morning Consult (conducted before his hospitalization), approval for the prime minister jumped by nearly 30 points in 10 days late last month, even as he executed a clumsy shift in the UK’s response to the pandemic, briefly flirting with less stringent measures before imposing a lockdown resembling those across Europe. Support among the British people for the coronavirus measures currently in place is remarkably high, with 94 percent in favor and just 3 percent opposed, according YouGov. Other YouGov polling has found that, even among Labour voters, a majority think the Conservative government is handling the outbreak either fairly well or very well.