The Next Outbreak - We're Not Ready

We are not ready

Bill Gates - TED talk

I saw this recently and it is surprising that as far back as 2015 Bill Gates was saying that we were not prepared for a pandemic. Nobody listened. Thanks to Kyle for showing it to me.

To be fair we are still not listening, though I suspect the numbers that are being shown today in countries around the world is forcing more and more people to sit up and take notice.

Everywhere this morning people are recognizing that we need to do more to stem the tide.

The last few weeks have shows us that in general the attitude for most people is

"It will not kill me so why should I worry about it"

Here in Thailand the wealthy sent their kids away from Bangkok to Hua Hin so they would be safe. Unfortunately they held parties and spread the virus.

Wealthy Thais kids party in Hua Hin

We are not taking this seriously and it shows

COVID-19 is not a benign illness. It seems like it is, as many will not actually feel worse than a mild case of the flu. But, it will take weeks before you will know for sure (unless tested), and in that time you have seen hundreds of people. All of whom you may have infected.

These are serious times, this is the calamity of 2020. We must rise to the challenge.

Stay as safe as possible and remind your families to do the same.

We are extremely fortunate that COVID-19 does not have a higher death rate than it does, though it could mutate to a different strain. IF COVID-19 does mutate to a more deadly strain - look out.

The Barn door is closing

We all know the old adage about closing the barn door after the horse has bolted (an English expression about doing something to stop something after it has happened). This expression exists all over the world in various languages.

Korea - Fix the cowshed after losing the cow.

Flemish - figs after Easter

Sorry if my analogies are not quite correct.

In 2015 Bill Gates gave the TED talk mentioned at the beginning of this post on Pandemics. The world did not listen. I did not even know he gave this talk. I only found it recently.
The point is the barn door is closing and we want to be inside before it does.

Stay at home, practice social distancing, wash your hands.

Do what you can to keep yourself and your family safe.

Help your neighbour if you can.

We will emerge from this but the world is changing.and we must change with it.