A group of scientists searched the tissue archive of the US National Center for Biotechnology Information and found more than 130,000 unknown viruses. How many of them could cause an epidemic when they escaped under very unfortunate conditions? Against how many of them would covid-19 problems have been harmless game? And how many of them are already running around the world?
We don’t know the answers, but it’s clear that this might not be the last. Countries will be divided into those that can close their borders within hours, and possibly impose harsh quarantine measures, and those that cannot. That includes a government capable of acting decisively, a functioning infrastructure and a cooperative, disciplined population. Mutual trust between government and the people is absolutely critical.
Mutual trust between government and the people is absolutely critical.
My guess is that this will be easy for the East Asian states, and doubly easy for China, which can use a combination of Confucianism and authoritarian rule. States where nationalist enthusiasm prevails, as in Hungary, will also do well. But others? Hardly.
