Bill Gates saw this coming →
source: businessinsider.comBill Gates all the way back in 2017:
“When I was a kid, there was really only one existential threat the world faced. The threat of a nuclear war. By the late 1990s, most reasonable people had come to accept that climate changed represented another major threat to humankind.
I view the threat of deadly pandemics right up there with nuclear war and climate change. Innovation, cooperation, and careful planning can dramatically mitigate the risks presented by each of these threats.
I’m optimistic that a decade from now, we can be much better prepared for a lethal epidemic–if we’re willing to put a fraction of what we spend on defense budgets and new weapons systems into epidemic readiness.”
I certainly read this quite differently given what we are currently dealing with on a global scale. Too bad it wasn’t taken more seriously by the right people at the time.