How can we make sense of the scary reality we are all now living in? Where do pandemics come from? And why are they occurring more frequently? On this special episode, Bloomberg’s Jason Gale talks to some of the world’s most experienced pandemic experts to get their insights.
The islands of Qinghai Lake, more than 10,000 feet above sea level in north-western China, are well known to people who study pandemics. Each year they provide a resting point for hundreds of thousands of birds as they migrate along the Central Asian and East Asian flyways. Diseases brought here by birds can travel across these great migration routes, which join other flyways to span the globe.
Laurie Garrett had been at the Council on Foreign Relations for less than a year when, in 2005, she was told that a “mutational event” had occurred on Qinghai Lake. A type of avian influenza was infecting bar-headed geese, a species that migrates thousands of kilometres, crossing the Himalayas from the Tibetan plateau to reach as far as southern India.
What would a full lockdown in the United States look like?
It’s going to look different in every part of the country. What I wanted to say to people is, You don’t have a lot of time. The wise course of action for any household is to assume there’s going to be a lockdown of some kind. Get yourself to wherever it is you want to be with whomever you think you need to be with, so that you’re ready as soon as an announcement is made.
Empty grocery store shelves, Purell selling at $100 a bottle, and handwashing that would make any mother proud. Uncertainty about the coronavirus dominates American life. But the fact that the future is not yet fixed is also cause for hope. In today's show, health expert Laurie Garrett argues that, while the "window is closing" to mitigate the pandemic's effect, there's still plenty to be done.
Like the fall of the Berlin Wall or the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the coronavirus pandemic is a world-shattering event whose far-ranging consequences we can only begin to imagine today.
This much is certain: Just as this disease has shattered lives, disrupted markets and exposed the competence (or lack thereof) of governments, it will lead to permanent shifts in political and economic power in ways that will become apparent only later.
To help us make sense of the ground shifting beneath our feet as this crisis unfolds, Foreign Policy asked 12 leading thinkers from around the world to weigh in with their predictions for the global order after the pandemic.
What can people do to help as the number of COVID-19 cases continues to climb? Emerging disease expert Laurie Garrett says that’s the wrong question to ask. “It's not just what you can do,” the author of "The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance" says. “It's what you should do.”
A few days ago I shared wine, cheese, and camaraderie with a small group of close friends, and sadly, after five excellent bottles of Côtes du Rhône wine, we said goodbye to one another, knowing we shall not again share company for many weeks, perhaps months. Yesterday my dearest neighbors knocked on the door, carts loaded with suitcases and boxes in tow, to wish me well for the duration of the great pandemic. We air-hugged, and I sadly watched them tromp off to their packed vehicle, abandoning New York City for their country home. As they wandered off, I said, “See you in September, I hope—or whenever things are normal again.”
For some countries—Italy, South Korea, and Singapore for example—the moment of decision and personal preparation has long since passed, and millions of people are stuck in place, watching their epidemic unfold. On the eve of St. Patrick’s Day, the mayor of San Francisco ordered her entire population to “shelter in place” for a few weeks: The window of opportunity to relocate has closed for residents of the Bay Area.
Politicians won’t admit it yet, but it’s time to prepare—physically and psychologically—for a sudden stop to all life outside your home.
Global Health Expert to GZERO Media: Americans Have 2-3 Days to Make Tough Decisions
"Your days are counting down. I would say you have two or three days to make some very tough decisions as a household and you're going to be stuck with what you decide now. And those decisions include where do you want to hunker down for eight weeks?"
"Eight weeks is long enough of a framework that you realize this is a major disruption of my life. Right?”
There are countries and systems that are managing the COVID-19 crisis comparatively well. South Korea, which invested heavily and early in testing is one. Singapore, in the view of renowned infectious disease expert and Pulitzer Prize-winner Laurie Garrett, may be an even better one. Their testing is almost ubiquitous and trust in the government's handling of the crisis is rock solid. Garrett, Just Security's Ryan Goodman and host David Rothkopf discuss what we can learn from these success and compare them to the still disastrous situation in the U.S. (and the lunatic approach embraced by the government of the U.K.). From how much longer this social and economically disruptive crisis will go on to what the science is telling us right now, this is an essential discussion. Join us.
As she wound down a frenzied workweek spent delivering an article on the coronavirus to editors at The New Republic, and having published coronavirus op-eds in The Lancet and Foreign Policy, author and journalist Laurie Garrett was pondering whether to join a chorus of TV analysts on the pandemic.
“I told CNN I wouldn’t appear on there anymore unless they would answer my questions about [COVID-19] transmission in their newsroom … They use the same brushes and lipsticks and [make-up artist] hands on everybody,” said Garrett, describing what’s happened behind the scenes when she’s previously discussed infectious disease on that network.
In a world of polarising distrust and trade tensions, the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), both within nations and internationally, is aided and abetted by misinformation that circumnavigates the planet in microseconds. Such misinformation is not all malevolent, although its impact can be devastating. The only bastion of defence against rising public panic, financial market hysteria, and unintended misunderstandings of the science and epidemiology of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is agile, accurate, worldwide-available counter-information that takes the high moral ground and conveys a consistently science-driven narrative. Some have sought to limit misinformation about COVID-19 on social media by pressuring corporations, such as Facebook, Weibo, and Twitter, to censor bad actors—an approach that has not stopped conspiracy theorists, trolls, and liars.
Let’s get serious, America. It’s time to ask, during a time of plague, whether—and if so, in what form—democracy can continue as usual. The answer is likely to be disappointing. For the first time in the country’s history, the United States must contemplate canceling the Democratic and Republican national conventions and campaign rallies, and give serious consideration to arranging ways of organizing election day that don’t require in-person voting.
From party conventions to in-person voting, the coronavirus pandemic has made traditional election activities into deadly gambles.
In a world of polarising distrust and trade tensions, the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), both within nations and internationally, is aided and abetted by misinformation that circumnavigates the planet in microseconds. Such misinformation is not all malevolent, although its impact can be devastating. The only bastion of defence against rising public panic, financial market hysteria, and unintended misunderstandings of the science and epidemiology of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is agile, accurate, worldwide-available counter-information that takes the high moral ground and conveys a consistently science-driven narrative. Some have sought to limit misinformation about COVID-19 on social media by pressuring corporations, such as Facebook, Weibo, and Twitter, to censor bad actors—an approach that has not stopped conspiracy theorists, trolls, and liars.
Laurie Garrett (Merrill '75, biology) was in China during the SARS epidemic, and won a Pulitzer Prize for chronicling the Ebola virus outbreak in Zaire. So she speaks with authority and experience when she says that the coronavirus is “different from anything we have ever seen before.”
Garrett is a leading expert on global health, with a particular focus on newly emerging and reemerging diseases and their effects on foreign policy and national security. She has been watching the coronavirus outbreak closely and speaking with news media including MSNBC to impart knowledge and combat the spread of misinformation.
The World Health Organization is warning all countries to take the threat of a coronavirus global pandemic seriously as governments around the world are scrambling to effectively contain the spread of COVID-19. Local health officials worldwide are preparing for widespread outbreaks while encouraging citizens to remain calm. Financial markets are bracing for the worst as many schools and corporate offices are closing their doors. On this week’s episode, Ray Suarez talks with Larry Brilliant, a renowned epidemiologist, credited with playing a major role in eradicating smallpox, and Pulitzer Prize-winning global health journalist Laurie Garrett. We also get dispatches from Rafael Suarez in China, Christopher Livesay in Italy and Peter Kenyon, who recently returned from Iran.
The coronavirus has found a crack in the nation’s public health armor, and it is not one that scientists foresaw: diagnostic testing.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention botched its first attempt to mass produce a diagnostic test kit, a discovery made only after officials had shipped hundreds of kits to state laboratories.
As coronavirus spreads, the Center for Disease Control is warning Americans to take urgent precautions. Meanwhile, the White House says tune out and calm down. On this week’s On the Media, what to expect as COVID-19 threatens to make its way through a ruptured body politic. Plus, amid so much focus on electability, a look at the millions of voters who swing from voting “blue” to simply not voting at all.
Journalist Laurie_Garrett on the nature of contagions and how a nation of so-called “epidemic voyeurs” is reacting to a possible pandemic on American soil.
The coronavirus disease that was first diagnosed in China’s Hubei province has now spread to at least 47 countries and every continent except Antarctica. The World Health Organization has declared the outbreak an international health emergency. President Trump sought to play down the threat from coronavirus and announced Vice President Mike Pence would be his point person to coordinate government efforts to prevent a widespread outbreak. As Trump spoke, a new milestone in the novel coronavirus outbreak was reported, in a possible example of community spread: A person was diagnosed with the virus in Northern California who had not traveled to any of the affected regions of the world, nor had known contact with anyone else who did. We speak with Laurie Garrett, former senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations and a Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer. She is the author of several books, including “Ebola: Story of an Outbreak,” “The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance” and “Betrayal of Trust: The Collapse of Global Public Health.”