Not only individuals, but also major companies were locked down. If this was a dry run for "certain measures" in the future, I can't believe how much of a blow it would cause to the economy. Therefore, I think this was more of a human error.
Learning a language requires persistence. I think the main purpose of Duolingo is to maintain interest and motivate myself to read other materials.
When I am not very interested in the language, I will just check in on Duolingo every day. But if I regain my interest after a period of time, I will concentrate on studying other learning materials.