Time Magazine: The World Is Not Ready for the Next Pandemic (May 15, 2017)

[Bucky]

( I encourage you to read the whole article. It doesn't seem to be behind Time magazine's pay wall right now.)

https://time.com/magazine/us/4766607/may-15th-2017-vol-189-no-18-u-s/

Across China, the virus that could spark the next pandemic is already circulating....

{snip}

Some recent outbreaks registered in the U.S. as no more than a blip in the news, while others, like Ebola, triggered an intense but temporary panic. And while a mutant bug that moves from chickens in China to humans in cities around the world may seem like something out of a Hollywood script, the danger the world faces from H7N9–and countless other pathogens with the potential to cause enormous harm–isn’t science fiction. Rather, it’s the highly plausible nightmare scenario that should be keeping the President up at night.

{snip}

...The budget the President proposed in March would have slashed critical funding at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) by $15.1 billion, including deep cuts to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which underwrites more infectious-disease research than any other agency in the world. The budget for the State Department and foreign aid–which power vital efforts to stop diseases overseas, where they usually originate–was set to be cut by 28%. Although a bipartisan congressional spending deal reached on April 30 blocked many of those cuts, the signals Trump has sent are worrying...

{snip}

There are troubling economic implications as well. The 2003 SARS epidemic, which killed fewer than 800 people, cost the global economy $54 billion, much of it in lost trade, transportation disruption and health care costs. The World Bank estimates that the toll from a severe flu pandemic could hit $4 trillion. 😣

One saving grace is that the scientific understanding of that risk is better than ever. Research groups are working feverishly to predict the next pandemic before it even happens. They’re cataloging threats and employing next-generation genetic-sequencing tools to speed the discovery of new or mysterious viruses. They’re helping identify and track outbreaks as they happen.

I've been on this form for over 18 years and this feels like the saddest most depressing thing I've ever posted.

[niyad]

1. KNR

[SouthernCal_Dem]

2. ....and America now leads the world in total coronavirus infections

No surprise considering we have a six time bankrupt reality TV game show host for president.

He was also a failed steak salesman who ran a fraudulent university.

Not exactly shocking that we’re in the current situation.

[UTUSN]

3. K&R