Who could have foreseen this pandemic and the health and financial crisis we now face? According to our president the answer is no one. However, the truth is that experts have been well aware of the risks for a long time.
In October 2019, experts from Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security hosted a pandemic exercised called Event 201 in which they simulated a fictional pandemic to figure out how governments, healthcare systems and business leaders should response. For the exercise they chose to use a novel coronavirus (described as "SARS on steroids"..sounds familiar). The results were catastrophic. One of the participants summarized the conclusions saying: “Public health experts have been talking about pandemic preparedness for decades now, but most of the resources are going to come from the private sector—the drugs, the vaccines, the planes to transport them. And we don’t think they’ve been sufficiently prepared.”
You can read a recap (FROM OCTOBER 2019!!) here: https://gizmodo.com/were-not-ready-for-the-next-pandemic-18…
After the exercise, they made a number of recommendations to improve our preparedness including: 1. Governments, international organizations, and businesses should plan now for how essential corporate capabilities will be utilized during a large-scale pandemic. 2. Industry, national governments, and international organizations should work together to enhance internationally held stockpiles of medical countermeasures (MCMs) to enable rapid and equitable distribution during a severe pandemic. 3. Countries, international organizations, and global transportation companies should work together to maintain travel and trade during severe pandemics. Travel and trade are essential to the global economy as well as to national and even local economies, and they should be maintained even in the face of a pandemic. 4. Governments should provide more resources and support for the development and surge manufacturing of vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics that will be needed during a severe pandemic. 5. Global business should recognize the economic burden of pandemics and fight for stronger preparedness. 6. International organizations should prioritize reducing economic impacts of epidemics and pandemics. 7. Governments and the private sector should assign a greater priority to developing methods to combat mis- and disinformation prior to the next pandemic response.
The full text of the recommendations and links to more information about Event 201 can be found here: http://www.centerforhealthsecurity.org/…/recommendations.ht…
I have tried to stay away from political commentary during this period because it is more important than ever that we work together as a nation to deal with the COVID-19 crisis. However, I could not help but notice the contrast between what experts are saying and the messages that are coming from the president. Here is a March 6, White House briefing where the president refers to the current crisis as an "unforeseen problem" that "came out of nowhere": https://www.whitehouse.gov/…/remarks-president-trump-signi…/
Does anyone else find it troubling that instead of "assigning greater priority to developing methods to combat mis- and disinformation" the white house seems to be the source of a great deal of "mis- and disinformation"?
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