The Next Outbreak - We're Not Ready

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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.

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Recent Comments

20

Thank you for your post.
A few days late for me to respond.

I think the World is now taking this COVID-19 seriously now. It has taken so many lives to wake up how serious this is.

I am in Bangkok & have been self-isolating with my wife. My Rotary Club of Patong Beach - Phuket is assisting the Patong Beach Hospital with PPE equipment & sanitizers etc.

Hopefully, the virus will be contained in the very near future. It has been a costly wake-up call to the world.

Denis

It has been a costly wake-up call - I would agree. Let us hope it does not get worse and the virus mutates to a deadlier form. So far we have been lucky.

Stay safe.

I saw this couple of years back. Yes, it fell on deaf ears. We were not ready and hope after this, we can start working to be ready. However the financial aftermath will take years to recover in all the emergency supplementary budgets. I just hope the money goes to good use and is not abused.

I agree with you, the financial cost is very high, and there will be abuse because there always is. We can only hope that it is exposed and people are sent to jail for it. Wishful thinking.

I'm home all the time right now anyway, getting over shingles.

Get well soon.

Resiliency is needed in times like these.

Yes, as long as we are resilient we will survive.

Thank you.

You are welcome.

Thank you for that post
Locked door and horse bolted ....🤭
I wonder what the history books will make of this episode later down the line, how they will editorialise our inadequacies, will they say it was an almost inevitable consequence, or will they say the pandemic was always going to happen, will they say it could have been avoided or did we handle the best way we could?

It seems it’s going to be with us for some considerable time, that everyone agrees, just how long and what of the financial impact. I would like to be a fly on the wall 100 years from now.

But right now, I am here in the middle of a huge invisible cloud of fear and anxiety, looking forward is difficult, but reading and then responding with my WAmily you all collectively put sense and sanity before catastrophising and refuse to enjoin and do not go completely bonkers.

(our PM has just been diagnosed with Coronavirus) whom we would like to think took his own advice. Our heir to the throne also has the virus. I guess the indicators are that it is considerably more prevalent, and more have it (mildly) than numbers suggest...

Today instead of disappearing up my own backside I am going to communicate more with the sane and pragmatic members...👍

Thank you for comment, I would agree - more have this virus than we know. Testing will prove the numbers, but it will take a long time for everyone to get tested.

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