Five years ago, a novel coronavirus was quietly spreading, already well on its way to causing a global pandemic that would expose deep vulnerabilities in the prevailing global economic model. Yet most of the lessons from that period have already been forgotten, leaving the world woefully unprepared for the next crisis.
CAMBRIDGE – In December 2019, as the world was looking ahead to a new year, a novel virus was quietly spreading in China, having most likely made the leap from animals to humans in a Wuhan “wet market.” Soon, the COVID-19 pandemic would bring the world to a grinding halt, forcing billions of people into unprecedented lockdowns and shuttering economies worldwide. Five years on, we are still grappling with the effects of this “gray rhino”: a high-probability risk that was nonetheless neglected or ignored.
CAMBRIDGE – In December 2019, as the world was looking ahead to a new year, a novel virus was quietly spreading in China, having most likely made the leap from animals to humans in a Wuhan “wet market.” Soon, the COVID-19 pandemic would bring the world to a grinding halt, forcing billions of people into unprecedented lockdowns and shuttering economies worldwide. Five years on, we are still grappling with the effects of this “gray rhino”: a high-probability risk that was nonetheless neglected or ignored.