Lessons for the Next Pandemic from this Pandemic

The Financial Times reported on Monday¹ that Tedros Adhanon Ghebreyesus, the head of the World Health Organization, is calling on China to “give full access” to a team from WHO to investigate how the pandemic emerged.  Yeah, right.  Like China is going to do that.  They haven’t done it so far; they’re not going to do it now.  It’s sort of silly to keep calling for it.

But what I found more interesting about the article was this paragraph:

“The two most prominent theories [as to the virus’s origin] envisage either a zoonotic jump from animal to humans via Wuhan’s wet food markets or contagion stemming from an accidental leak from the city’s virology laboratory.  But no scientific consensus has emerged from the debate, and Tedros reiterated that all options remained “‘on the table’.”

Which is interesting because I remember when, a couple of years ago, saying a lab leak in Wuhan was the origin of the virus could get you kicked off social media and branded as a “science denier” by the leading health officials in our government.  Which gets to the other point of this post: some lessons I would like to think our leaders learned from Covid-19 that would be useful to remember when the next pandemic hits: 

1. Don’t lie, even if it is for a good purpose.²  It lessens your credibility for when you really need it.
2. If you’re not sure, say so.  Tell people it‘s your best guess, and don’t fake certainty if you aren’t certain.
3. Even if you are certain, remember that you might be wrong anyway.  (See the lab leak theory from the quotation above.)
4. Don’t assume people who disagree with you are evil or stupid.  They might just be decent people who honestly disagree with you – even if you are absolutely certain you are right.  (See point #3 above.)
5. When you get things wrong, admit it – right away.³  
6. Stay humble.
7. Remember: how you handle this pandemic and how you treat people in handling it, will affect how much credibility you will have and how much people will believe you the next time.

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¹ Donato Paolo Mancini, “WHO chief pushes China for ‘full access’ to solve Covid origins riddle”, Financial Times, September 18, 2023.
² Remember when our government officials said, at the beginning of the pandemic, that masks didn’t work for the general public.  That was a lie.  They wanted the masks for doctors, nurses, etc., so they said masks didn’t work for the general public.  They didn’t want the public buying the limited supplies.  It was for a good purpose, but it damaged their credibility.
³ At the beginning of the pandemic, they told us that the virus could spread through surface contact and that we needed lots more ventilators.  Neither was correct.