Preparing for the next pandemic: Discovering the source of Covid-19

In the ongoing fight against the ravages of the Covid-19 virus, the government often seems to be struggling with the problem Odysseus had in the Homeric voyages of Greek mythology: which route to chart between Scylla and Charybdis? Do you open the economy and face the possibility of new cases of the virus overloading the NHS, or do you keep everyone at home and rapidly see the economy falter?

As we seemingly oscillate between these two positions, neither of which has a great outcome, a central question about the whole Covid-19 experience remains: where did the virus originate? After all, how can we expect to finally try and see an end game of this crisis without fully understanding how it started?

Why, some might ask, is it vital that we discover the truth about the circumstances in which the virus emerged to kill just under four million people internationally and to leave so many ravaged by its long-term consequences? The answer is a simple one. If we do not bottom out how the virus originated, it is difficult to imagine how we prepare for the next one, which will inevitably happen.

For all members of the emergency services in the frontline of helping protect people, the answer to this question is vital. It is the basis of how we try and develop the kind of resilient society that we in the Fire Knowledge Network have been advocating for some time.

Read the full article on our digital issue, page 17-18.

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