- 24 Oct 2022 15:49
#15252139
"In March 2020, as Covid surged into New York City, I was proved wrong. On many days as an emergency room doctor, I’d see more people die in my hospital — one of the nation’s best, in one of the wealthiest cities in the world — than I ever did while treating Ebola in West Africa. Covid was humbling; it revealed just how vulnerable we all are to pandemic threats.I chose, as a profession, to respond to outbreaks across continents. And I accepted that doing so comes with risk. I and many other health workers around the world expect to continue to respond, as all evidence points to a future plagued by more pathogens and pandemics. But policymakers must heed the warnings of the front line. Being perpetually unprepared for global disease outbreaks is not the future society wants, but it’s our fate if we don’t lay the groundwork for the next pandemic threat.
At the outset of every outbreak, a small window exists when response means the difference between containment and catastrophe. As the crisis wanes, a similar window exists when there’s enough will among people and politicians to push for better preparation for other pandemics. With Covid, that window is fast closing.
Yet in the wake of most major public health threats — H.I.V., anthrax, SARS, Ebola — investments and interest consistently peak, only to wane in predictable cycles. While Covid causes over 300 deaths a day in the United States, a largely preventable toll that could amount to double our worst flu season, Congress remains unable to secure funding for future Covid vaccines and response, let alone the $88 billion requested over five years for pandemic preparedness and biodefense.
The Covid pandemic has killed nearly as many Americans as U.S. troops died in all of our wars combined. We need to treat pandemic preparedness as a permanent priority, as we do our national defense, which is allocated hundreds of billions in annual funding even in times of peace. If we allow the destruction of the Covid pandemic to play out again in the future, we’ll have only ourselves — not some pandemic pathogen — to blame."
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/24/o...revention.html
Docs were saying the same back during the Clinton years. Now that we've seen how Covid can kill millions and damage economies, it's past time we started acting like adults.
At the outset of every outbreak, a small window exists when response means the difference between containment and catastrophe. As the crisis wanes, a similar window exists when there’s enough will among people and politicians to push for better preparation for other pandemics. With Covid, that window is fast closing.
Yet in the wake of most major public health threats — H.I.V., anthrax, SARS, Ebola — investments and interest consistently peak, only to wane in predictable cycles. While Covid causes over 300 deaths a day in the United States, a largely preventable toll that could amount to double our worst flu season, Congress remains unable to secure funding for future Covid vaccines and response, let alone the $88 billion requested over five years for pandemic preparedness and biodefense.
The Covid pandemic has killed nearly as many Americans as U.S. troops died in all of our wars combined. We need to treat pandemic preparedness as a permanent priority, as we do our national defense, which is allocated hundreds of billions in annual funding even in times of peace. If we allow the destruction of the Covid pandemic to play out again in the future, we’ll have only ourselves — not some pandemic pathogen — to blame."
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/24/o...revention.html
Docs were saying the same back during the Clinton years. Now that we've seen how Covid can kill millions and damage economies, it's past time we started acting like adults.
Facts have a well known liberal bias
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