Technology and Cooperation Help Fight the Pandemic

Chelsea FollettThe pandemic caused by the new coronavirus (COVID-19) from Wuhan, China, is now a serious and global problem. And that problem has been made even worse by a culture of constant alarmism making it hard to distinguish real threats from exaggerated claims, as the well ‐​known science writer Matt Ridley has pointed out. But even when faced with the genuine threat of a pandemic, there are reasons to take heart and think that humanity will rise to the challenges ahead.First, humanity has never been better prepared technologically to deal with a pandemic. We are fortunate to live in an age ofdrive ‐​through diagnostic test stations, advancedcomputer modeling that can help predict where and how fast the virus will spread, real ‐​time interactive online outbreak‐​trackingmaps, and medical supplies delivered byself ‐​driving cars. AnAI epidemiologist sent the first warnings about the novel coronavirus. Information about the virus is able to travel faster than the virus itself, arming individuals withknowledge about how to slow the disease ’s spread.There is currently no vaccine and no cure for the disease. However, medical research is faster and of higher quality than at any other time in history. The amount of time that it takes to successfully create a vaccine for a disease hascome down thanks to scientific advances, better communications technology, and more extensive cooperation among scientists across the globe.Res...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs