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COVID-19 is a precursor for infectious disease outbreaks on a warming planet
In his book, “
In his book, “The Great Influenza,” John Barry writes that the 1918 flu pandemic was the first time that “modern humanity . . would confront nature in its fullest rage.” However, 2020 has shown us that the true extent of nature’s rage is just beginning.
From the wildfires that destroyed millions of acres across Australia and California to a record-setting hurricane season, climate change has collided with COVID-19 to mark one of the most difficult years in modern human history. And while two highly effective vaccines have provided hope for the pandemic’s end, we must not become complacent. We must act aggressively on climate to prevent future pandemics from occurring more frequently.
Emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) have been present for thousands of years, but the past couple decades alone has been rife with outbreaks: Influenza H1N1, Ebola, Zika, Avian influenza, MERS-CoV, and SARS-CoV1. This list is an example of what Dr. Anthony Fauci and medical historian Dr. David Morens refer to as a “pandemic era,” a time in which disease outbreaks become the norm rather than the exception. Like its predecessors, COVID-19 is a zoonotic disease, one that can be transmitted between animals and humans. It is thought that 75 percent of EIDs are zoonotic in nature, and one study estimates that there are 3,200 coronaviruses in bats that could jump to humans at any time.
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The 1918 flu pandemic killed 675,000 Americans. We are more than half way to that number. The total from the 2020-2021 flu could be closer to a million lives gone.