Answers are important, but so is action.
 | By Alexandra Sifferlin Senior Staff Editor, Opinion |
How did the Covid-19 pandemic start? |
Ian Lipkin, the director of the Center for Infection and Immunity at Columbia University, has spent much of his career investigating the origins of outbreaks. Sometimes he and his colleagues can crack the case. But in a guest essay published today, he shares other examples of outbreaks where a clear origin couldn't be pinned down — like the emergence of West Nile virus in New York in 1999. |
The key lesson, argues Lipkin, is to put equal energy into preventing risks even in situations where clear answers never arrive. |
"Finding the origin of a viral outbreak can be incredibly difficult, even with full government cooperation and the best available technologies," he writes. "It's important to try, because the insights into how a virus emerged may be useful in reducing the risk of future outbreaks. But these efforts and debates over uncertainties cannot come at the expense of action. We cannot wait for answers that may never come before doing what must be done to prevent the next pandemic." |
Lipkin shares what he would like to see prioritized: better disease surveillance. Proposals aiming to improve the world's ability to track infections and catch outbreaks early have been on the table for years. Nearly a decade ago, a report by scientists and policymakers calling for such a system was formally shared with U.S. leadership. |
His guest essay raises an urgent question: Now that we know how important this can be, will leaders finally follow through? |
Here's what we're focusing on today: |
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