BILL told us.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
He even told us five years ago.
Bill Gates' TED Talk titled The Next Outbreak? We're Not Ready (2015) is doing the rounds of social media everywhere right now.
I had to watch it twice; just to make sure I'd understood it the first time round.
The Microsoft founder and global philanthropist, Gates revealed in his TED Talk about how future threats would be biological rather than military.
Gates said the world would need to drastically prepare for biological attacks in future.
"If anything kills over 10 million people in the next few decades, it's most likely to be a highly-infectious virus rather than a war," he said.
"Not missiles, but microbes.
"Part of the reason for this is we've invested a huge amount in nuclear deterrents.
"But we've actually invested very little in a system to stop an epidemic; we're not ready for the next epidemic."
MORE CORONAVIRUS NEWS:
Gates noted that the 2014 Ebola outbreak revealed the utter lack of preparation for such an unfolding emergency.
He suggested myriad ways the world could improve its defence strategy through technology, collaborations between health and military and simulations.
"The failure to prepare could allow the next epidemic to be dramatically more devastating than Ebola," Gates said.
Ebola killed 11,000 people, largely in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Gates noted that Ebola did not spread through the air and that people were bedridden by the time they were contagious. He suggested a future threat could be an airborne virus that spread easily, "a virus where people feel well enough while they're infectious that they get on a plane or they go to a market".
Gates noted that Ebola did not spread through the air and that people were bedridden by the time they were contagious.
He suggested a future threat could be an airborne virus that spread easily, "a virus where people feel well enough while they're infectious that they get on a plane or they go to a market".
"The source of the virus could be a natural epidemic like Ebola or it could be bioterrorism. So there are things that would literally make things a thousand times worse."
To date, more than 14,000 people have died from coronavirus.
With Bill's TED Talk ancient history in terms of the new pace everything is now evolving these days, it really only matters what comes next as we move towards more self-isolation in Australia.
MORE MATERIAL GIRL:
With many things seemingly out of our control right now, there are still many others we can practice every day:
- Eat well. As the weather cools down, it's time to turn to nourishing soups, stews and curries. They're nutritious one-pot wonders to boost the immune system ahead of the winter months. Can't get an ingredient? Substitute something; these dishes are very forgiving. Better still, make dinner based on what you can get at the market or store. Fennel was cheap as chips last week; perfect for a delicious warm salad with homemade chicken schnitzel.
- Be kind to each other. Everyone is processing this evolving emergency differently especially children.
- Walk the dog. If you're not in quarantine, you can still walk the dog while practising responsible social-distancing. How happy are the pooches, collectively, right now?!
- Read. Remember to switch off from the plethora of COVID-19 information coming at you occasionally to escape in a book. As for children, the Premier's Reading Challenge is happening on the Border right now. On this, both NSW and Victoria seem to be actually on the same page! Check out the details online.
- Vitamin D. Get some sunshine whenever you can. It really makes the world of difference.
- SBS on Demand. There's something for everyone here!
On the bright side, we've potentially got more time on weekends to binge-watch a bunch of TED Talks that we've been putting off since they first became a thing back in 1984.
Then we'd know for a fact why we've landed in this monumental impasse, which is a truth stranger than fiction.
Bill told us!
We have removed our paywall from our stories about the coronavirus. This is a rapidly changing situation and we want to make sure our readers are as informed as possible. If you would like to support our journalists you can subscribe here
