Bill Gates' TED talk on global preparedness for pandemics (2015) has recently resurfaced, due to COVID-19 (coronavirus):
The next outbreak? We're not readyLet's look at the progression of Ebola over this year. About 10,000 people died, and nearly all were in the three West African countries. There's three reasons why it didn't spread more.
1) The first is that there was a lot of heroic work by the health workers.
They found the people and they prevented more infections.
2) The second is the nature of the virus.
Ebola does not spread through the air. And by the time you're contagious, most people are so sick that they're bedridden.
3) Third, it didn't get into many urban areas.
And that was just luck. If it had gotten into a lot more urban areas, the case numbers would have been much larger.
Next time, we might not be so lucky.
You can have a virus where people feel well enough while they're infectious that they get on a plane or they go to a market.
Unfortunately, that describes COVID-19:
a virus where people feel well enough while they're infectious that they get on a plane or they go to a market.While scientific advances are made, hopefully going forward, families will focus on self-reliance and personal preparedness, including
- considering
Red Cross emergency preparedness- maintaining a well-stocked pantry of basic food and paper products
- following government-issued stay-at-home plans
- returning to the advice and guidelines common during the corporate layoffs, down-sizing, right-sizing, and out-sourcing as the US economy changed dramatically during the 1980's - 1990's: live frugally, budget, and accumulate a rainy day savings fund of 3-6 months of income/expenses. Having a financial cushion may be as important in future decades as it was for many families back then.
Stay healthy.
Be well.
