What We’ve Learned From COVID-19 & the Changes We Need to Make
How to Prevent the Next Pandemic by Bill Gates is a timely book that outlines the steps we can take to prevent future disease outbreaks. It provides insights into the root causes of pandemics and calls for global collaboration to prepare for the next one.
Now that we’re (hopefully) at the tail end of the Covid pandemic, we have one very good reason to be optimistic that we’ll handle things better next time: experience.
Countries who had recently dealt with other outbreaks tended to perform better during this pandemic. In 2003, countries like China, Taiwan, Singapore, and Vietnam were hit hard by the SARS outbreak. When Covid struck, they all responded quickly and effectively – and were able to successfully limit new cases for over a year. Clearly, these countries did something right.
So, if we want to protect ourselves from future pandemics, a good bet is to look at – and copy – what these countries have learned through experience.
As it turns out, there are three things all these countries excelled at right from the get-go. First, they were all able to quickly ramp up testing for a large proportion of their population. Second, they all had systems in place to trace people who had potentially come into contact with the disease. And third, they isolated everyone who tested positive or had been exposed to the virus.
By contrast, the US floundered in all three of these respects simply because of its inability to fully utilize testing. Early on, this was because tests were in short supply and the country struggled to acquire the kits it needed. But even by the time the Omicron variant appeared, many people were still unable to get tested because the testing centers were so flooded.
What’s more, the US never created a centralized way to prioritize testing and share the results. This was a missed opportunity. Any software company worth its salt could have whipped up a solution in a heartbeat if it had been asked. Instead, states and cities were left to their own devices, which led to a chaotic, inconsistent rollout of testing across the country.
The bottom line is that testing is something we’ll need to prepare for in advance next time. In the early days of an outbreak, if we can test a large segment of the population, isolate those who may be infected, and trace anyone coming from abroad, we’ll be well-positioned to keep cases at a manageable level. If we don't prepare, we might have to again resort to unpopular measures like lockdowns to prevent huge casualties.
The world has not yet properly invested in the systems and tools we need to undertake large-scale testing. It’s about time we did.
How to Prevent the Next Pandemic (2022) is a blueprint for the international pandemic prevention plan the world sorely needs. Learning from the mistakes of the Covid 19 pandemic, Gates lays down a series of steps governments need to take if we’re to protect ourselves and ensure another global health catastrophe of this scale never happens again.
Ich bin begeistert. Ich liebe Bücher aber durch zwei kleine Kinder komme ich einfach nicht zum Lesen. Und ja, viele Bücher haben viel bla bla und die Quintessenz ist eigentlich ein Bruchteil.
Genau dafür ist Blinkist total genial! Es wird auf das Wesentliche reduziert, die Blinks sind gut verständlich, gut zusammengefasst und auch hörbar! Das ist super. 80 Euro für ein ganzes Jahr klingt viel, aber dafür unbegrenzt Zugriff auf 3000 Bücher. Und dieses Wissen und die Zeitersparnis ist unbezahlbar.
Extrem empfehlenswert. Statt sinnlos im Facebook zu scrollen höre ich jetzt täglich zwischen 3-4 "Bücher". Bei manchen wird schnelle klar, dass der Kauf unnötig ist, da schon das wichtigste zusammen gefasst wurde..bei anderen macht es Lust doch das Buch selbständig zu lesen. Wirklich toll
Einer der besten, bequemsten und sinnvollsten Apps die auf ein Handy gehören. Jeden morgen 15-20 Minuten für die eigene Weiterbildung/Entwicklung oder Wissen.
Viele tolle Bücher, auf deren Kernaussagen reduziert- präzise und ansprechend zusammengefasst. Endlich habe ich das Gefühl, Zeit für Bücher zu finden, für die ich sonst keine Zeit habe.
Hol dir mit Blinkist die besten Erkenntnisse aus mehr als 7.000 Sachbüchern und Podcasts. In 15 Minuten lesen oder anhören!
Jetzt kostenlos testen
Blink 3 von 12 - Eine kurze Geschichte der Menschheit
von Yuval Noah Harari
