<
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2022/09/covid-pandemic-exposes-americas-failing-systems-future-epidemics/671608/>
"Recently, after a week in which 2,789 Americans died of COVID-19, President
Joe Biden proclaimed that “the pandemic is over.” Anthony Fauci described the
controversy around the proclamation as a matter of “semantics,” but the facts
we are living with can speak for themselves. COVID still kills roughly as many
Americans every week as died on 9/11. It is on track to kill at least 100,000 a
year—triple the typical toll of the flu. Despite gross undercounting, more than
50,000 infections are being recorded every day. The CDC estimates that 19
million adults have long COVID. Things have undoubtedly improved since the peak
of the crisis, but calling the pandemic “over” is like calling a fight
“finished” because your opponent is punching you in the ribs instead of the
face.
American leaders and pundits have been trying to call an end to the pandemic
since its beginning, only to be faced with new surges or variants. This mindset
not only compromises the nation’s ability to manage COVID, but also leaves it
vulnerable to other outbreaks. Future pandemics aren’t hypothetical; they’re
inevitable and imminent. New infectious diseases have regularly emerged
throughout recent decades, and climate change is quickening the pace of such
events. As rising temperatures force animals to relocate, species that have
never coexisted will meet, allowing the viruses within them to find new
hosts—humans included. Dealing with all of this again is a matter of when, not
if."
Via Susan ****
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
